The Investigation of Predictors of Cyber Bullying and Cyber Victimization in University Students

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study is to determine the predictors of cyber bullying and cyber victimization in university students. Moreover, whether cyber bullying and cyber victimization scores of the participants differ or not in terms of gender and marital status was examined. Material and Methods: The participants of the study were 300 (150 females and 150 males) university students who were studying in different departments in state and private universities in Istanbul and the ages of the participants were between 18 and 35 years. Demographic Information Form, Cyber Bullying/Cyber Victimization Scales and Young Internet Addiction Scale were applied to the students. Results: According to the findings of this study, gender, marital status and internet addiction as together had predictive value on cyber victimization in university students. It was also found that gender, marital status, internet addiction and age as together had significantly predicted cyber bullying scores of the participants. Furthermore, cyber victimization scores of males were higher than females; however, there was no significant difference between females and males in terms of cyber bullying. Additionally, it was found that there was no significant difference between married and single subjects in terms of cyber victimization, but single subjects were more prone to make cyber bullying than married ones. Conclusion: Cyber bullying and cyber victimization seem to be widespread all over the world. It is stated that prevention and coping programs should be organized in order to protect students from the negative effects of cyber bullying and that the participation of school staff, family and community in these programs is very important. Individuals need to be educated on the use of the internet and mobile phones, and taught how to cope with cyber bullying.