Cyberbullying Among University Students in Türkiye

Abstract

The studies revealed that cyberbullying is a prevalent phenomenon and highlighted the dramatic increase in cyberbullying during the pandemic. Therefore, in the present study, the effects of quality of life, collectivism, and psychological needs on cyberbullying perpetration and victimization during the pandemic were examined. This study consisted of 520 university students studying at any university in Türkiye. Personal Information Form, Cyberbullying Inventory, the Quality of Life Scale, Individualism and Collectivism Scale, and Psychological Needs Inventory were used in data collection. Correlation and multiple hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to identify the associations of the study variables. The findings illustrated that cyberbullying perpetration was statistically significant and positively related with psychological (r = .13, p < .01), social (r = .13, p < .01), and professional (r = .10, p < .05) factors related to the quality of life; and negatively correlated with loyalty to authority and tradition (r = -.10, p < .05) and love and belonging (r = -.11, p < .05). The study's findings revealed that psychological, social, and professional factors related to the quality of life, loyalty to authority and tradition (i.e., dimension of collectivism), and love and belonging from psychological needs were predictors of cyberbullying perpetration. In addition, the psychological, social, and professional factors related to the quality of life, group dependency, and love and belonging from psychological needs were predictors of cyberbullying victimization. The findings on cyberbullying prevalence also illustrated that 34.6% of the participants were involved in cyberbullying perpetration, and 51.3% were exposed to cyberbullying victimization at least one time in the last six months.