The findings of a new survey have revealed that the problem of cyber bullying - also called trolling - is apparently worse than what it was initially feared, because a majority of cyber bullying incidents are not reported.

With cyber bullying already being a cause for concern for parents, as well as teachers and Internet authorities, the findings of the survey - carried out by Trolled Nation, on behalf of Knowthenet. org - revealed that just around 37 percent of the young cyber-bullying victims have ever reported the incidents to the social network on which such incidents have occurred.

The survey - which had 2,001 teenagers participating in it - also revealed that merely 17 percent of the young victims of cyber bulling told their parents about the incidents; and only about 1 percent victims talked to their teacher about these incidents.

The survey's findings are rather disquieting, especially in the wake of the fact that nearly 85 percent of 19-year-old male participants acknowledged that they had experienced cyber bullying at some point.

With the survey revealing that most of the cyber bullying incidents go unreported, Emma-Jane Cross - CEO and founder of the charity BeatBullying - said that both online and offline bullying can often have "devastating and tragic effects;" and added: "We work with hundreds of young people being cyber-bullied or trolled so badly that it can lead to depression, truancy, self-harm, or even force them to contemplate or attempt suicide."