Cyberbullying: The hidden side of college students

The purpose of this study was to investigate how university students perceive their involvement in the cyberbullying phenomenon, and its impact on their well-being. Thus, this study presents a preliminary approach of how college students' perceived involvement in acts of cyberbullying can be measured. Firstly, Exploratory Factor Analysis (N = 349) revealed a unidimensional structure of the four scales included in the Cyberbullying Inventory for College Students. Then, Item Response Theory (N = 170) was used to analyze the unidimensionality of each scale and the interactions between participants and items. RESULTS revealed good item reliability and Cronbach's α for each scale. RESULTS also showed the potential of the instrument and how college students underrated their involvement in acts of cyberbullying. Additionally, aggression types, coping strategies and sources of help to deal with cyberbullying were identified and discussed. Lastly, age, gender and course-related issues were considered in the analysis. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

[1]  K. Williams,et al.  Prevalence and predictors of internet bullying. , 2007, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[2]  Robert S. Tokunaga,et al.  Following you home from school: A critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[3]  Colette Langos.  Cyberbullying: The Shades of Harm , 2014 .

[4]  Justin W. Patchin,et al.  Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide , 2010, Archives of suicide research : official journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research.

[5]  P. Pfeiffer.  Bullying among middle school students , 2013 .

[6]  G. Espinoza,et al.  Bullying Experiences and Compromised Academic Performance Across Middle School Grades , 2011 .

[7]  B. Muthén,et al.  A comparison of some methodologies for the factor analysis of non‐normal Likert variables: A note on the size of the model , 1992 .

[8]  Qing Li.  A cross-cultural comparison of adolescents' experience related to cyberbullying , 2008 .

[9]  Thatiana Helena de Lima,et al.  Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the , 2017 .

[10]  E. Englander.  Digital Self-Harm: Frequency, Type, Motivations, and Outcomes , 2012 .

[11]  D. Boyd,et al.  Sociality Through Social Network Sites , 2013 .

[12]  Debra M. Hernandez Jozefowicz-Simbeni,et al.  An Ecological and Developmental Perspective on Dropout Risk Factors in Early Adolescence: Role of School Social Workers in Dropout Prevention Efforts. , 2008 .

[13]  Alisa Hutchinson,et al.  How South Korean teachers handle an incident of school bullying , 2011 .

[14]  Derek L. Bosworth,et al.  DEFINITION AND MEASUREMENT , 1986 .

[15]  L. Almeida,et al.  The role of processes and contents in human memory: An item response theory approach , 2011 .

[16]  D. Cross,et al.  Cyberbullying Versus Face-to-Face Bullying A Theoretical and Conceptual Review , 2009 .

[17]  Corinne David-Ferdon,et al.  Electronic media, violence, and adolescents: an emerging public health problem. , 2007, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[18]  B. Muthén,et al.  A comparison of some methodologies for the factor analysis of non‐normal Likert variables , 1985 .

[19]  R. Sitgreaves.  Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). , 1979 .

[20]  B. Sockman,et al.  An Exploratory Study of Cyberbullying with Undergraduate University Students. , 2011 .

[21]  E. Faccio,et al.  Cyberbullying and Interventions Programs in School and Clinical Setting , 2014 .

[22]  E. deLara.  Why Adolescents Don't Disclose Incidents of Bullying and Harassment , 2012 .

[23]  Svend Kreiner,et al.  Applying the Rasch Model , 2012 .

[24]  Christiane Spiel,et al.  Definition and Measurement of Cyberbullying , 2010 .

[25]  Can Do.  Bullying At School What We Know And What We Can Do , 2016 .

[26]  R. P. McDonald,et al.  Test Theory: A Unified Treatment , 1999 .

[27]  Juliana Raskauskas,et al.  Involvement in traditional and electronic bullying among adolescents. , 2007, Developmental psychology.

[28]  Peter K. Smith,et al.  Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. , 2008, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[29]  Kathryn H Jacobsen,et al.  Bullying among middle-school students in low and middle income countries. , 2010, Health promotion international.

[30]  Rosario Ortega,et al.  EMOCIONES DE AGRESORES Y VÍCTIMAS DE CYBERBULLYING: UN ESTUDIO PRELIMINAR EN ESTUDIANTES DE SECUNDARIA , 2009 .

[31]  Robin M. Kowalski,et al.  Electronic bullying among middle school students. , 2007, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[32]  Jinchang Wang,et al.  An Exploratory Study of the Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking Experiences and Factors Related to Victimization of Students at a Public Liberal Arts College , 2010, Int. J. Technoethics.

[33]  Derek C. Glover,et al.  Bullying in 25 secondary schools: incidence, impact and intervention , 2000 .

[34]  Bulent Dilmac,et al.  Psychological Needs as a Predictor of Cyber Bullying: A Preliminary Report on College Students , 2009 .

[35]  Notice for ‘Cyberbullying in schools: A research of gender differences’ , 2014 .

[36]  J. Finn.  A Survey of Online Harassment at a University Campus , 2004, Journal of interpersonal violence.

[37]  Peter K. Smith,et al.  Cyberbullying: another main type of bullying? , 2008, Scandinavian journal of psychology.

[38]  Marc Uri Porat,et al.  Definition and measurement , 1977 .

[39]  R. MacCallum,et al.  THE APPLICATION OF EXPLORATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS IN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: A CRITICAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS , 1986 .

[40]  Juyoung Song,et al.  Does the offline bully-victimization influence cyberbullying behavior among youths? Application of General Strain Theory , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[41]  D. Espelage,et al.  Bullying and Victimization : What Have We Learned and Where Do We Go from Here ? [ Mini-Series ] , 2017 .

[42]  Elizabeth A. Clarke,et al.  A Systemic Counseling Approach to the Problem of Bullying. , 1997 .

[43]  Megan Price,et al.  Cyberbullying: experiences, impacts and coping strategies as described by Australian young people. , 2010 .

[44]  Robert Slonje,et al.  The nature of cyberbullying, and strategies for prevention , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[45]  Faye Mishna,et al.  Weighing the Risks: A Child's Decision to Disclose Peer Victimization , 2005 .

[46]  Russell A. Sabella,et al.  Cyberbullying myths and realities , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[47]  Christine E. DeMars,et al.  Item Response Theory , 2010, Assessing Measurement Invariance for Applied Research.

[48]  L. Almeida,et al.  Construction of a Memory Battery for Computerized Administration, Using Item-Response Theory , 2012, Psychological reports.

[49]  Allison M. Schenk,et al.  Characteristics of college cyberbullies , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[50]  Tanya N. Beran,et al.  The Relationship between Cyberbullying and School Bullying , 2008 .

[51]  Tanya N. Beran,et al.  Cyberbullying: The New Era of Bullying , 2011 .

[52]  Elizabeth Levin,et al.  Cyberbullying: Eliciting harm without consequence , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[53]  J. Stevens,et al.  Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis , 2012 .

[54]  Brian W. Sturm,et al.  Cyberbullying: From Playground to Computer , 2007 .

[55]  Colette Langos.  Cyberbullying, Associated Harm and the Criminal Law , 2013 .

[56]  And Words Can Hurt Forever: How to Protect Adolescents from Bullying, Harassment, and Emotional Violence , 2001 .

[57]  A. Baroncelli,et al.  Unique effects of different components of trait emotional intelligence in traditional bullying and cyberbullying. , 2014, Journal of adolescence.

[58]  E. deLara.  Developing a Philosophy about Bullying and Sexual Harassment: Cognitive Coping Strategies Among High School Students , 2008 .

[59]  Peter K. Smith,et al.  Bullying in schools: Lessons from two decades of research , 2000 .

[60]  T. Wentzel‐Larsen,et al.  Violence, bullying and academic achievement: a study of 15-year-old adolescents and their school environment. , 2013, Child abuse & neglect.

[61]  D. Pepler,et al.  Developmental trajectories of bullying and associated factors. , 2008, Child development.

[62]  Karolien Poels,et al.  Cyberbullying on social network sites. An experimental study into bystanders' behavioural intentions to help the victim or reinforce the bully , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[63]  Michelle F. Wright,et al.  Normative beliefs about aggression and cyber aggression among young adults: a longitudinal investigation. , 2013, Aggressive behavior.

[64]  Erling Roland,et al.  Bullying, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts , 2002 .

[65]  D. Andrich.  Rating Scale Analysis , 1999 .

[66]  Antonio Iudici.  Skills-lab Project – Promotinge Integration of Diversity as a Culture Participation. Community Relief, Economic, Social, Clinical and Health , 2014 .

[67]  J. Nunnally.  Psychometric Theory (2nd ed), New York: McGraw-Hill. , 1978 .

[68]  T. Brown,et al.  Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research , 2006 .

[69]  Y. Akbulut,et al.  Cyberbullying and victimisation among Turkish university students , 2011 .

[70]  L. Lechner,et al.  Determinants of adolescents' ineffective and improved coping with cyberbullying: a Delphi study. , 2014, Journal of adolescence.

[71]  W. Dutton.  The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies , 2013 .

[72]  Marilyn A. Campbell,et al.  Cyber Bullying: An Old Problem in a New Guise? , 2005, Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling.

[73]  Bruce Johnson,et al.  Behind the Scenes and Screens Insights into the Human Dimension of Covert and Cyberbullying , 2009 .

[74]  J. Wolak,et al.  Online Victimization of Youth : Five Years Later. , 2006 .

[75]  Juan Calmaestra,et al.  The emotional impact on victims of traditional bullying and cyberbullying: A study of Spanish adolescents. , 2009 .

[76]  Ana Margarida Veiga Simão,et al.  Cyberbullying: percepções acerca do fenômeno e das estratégias de enfrentamento , 2014 .

[77]  B. Anthony,et al.  Commentary: guiding a public health approach to bullying. , 2010, Journal of pediatric psychology.

[78]  Teresa Pessoa,et al.  Cyberbullying: Um desafio à investigação e à formação , 2009 .

[79]  Georg Rasch,et al.  Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests , 1981, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[80]  Carlos Gomez-Garibello,et al.  Adolescents' moral evaluations and ratings of cyberbullying: The effect of veracity and intentionality behind the event , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[81]  Christine E. DeMars.  Item Response Theory , 2010 .

[82]  D. Olweus,et al.  Bullying at school : what we know and what we can do / Dan Olweus , 1993 .

[83]  S. Embretson.  The new rules of measurement. , 1996 .

[84]  I. Borowsky,et al.  Adolescent Violence Perpetration: Associations With Multiple Types of Adverse Childhood Experiences , 2010, Pediatrics.

[85]  T. Li.  Cyber-Harassment: A Study of a New Method for an Old Behavior , 2005 .

[86]  Justin W. Patchin,et al.  Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying , 2008 .

[87]  W. Velicer.  Determining the number of components from the matrix of partial correlations , 1976 .

[88]  K. Jöreskog.  Factor analysis by least squares and maximum likelihood methods , 1977 .

[89]  James A. Jones,et al.  Uses of Rasch Modeling in Counseling Psychology Research. , 1998 .

[90]  Qing Li.  Cyberbullying in Schools , 2006 .

[91]  Qing Li,et al.  New bottle but old wine: A research of cyberbullying in schools , 2007, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[92]  Susan E. Embretson,et al.  Item Response Theory Models and Spurious Interaction Effects in Factorial ANOVA Designs , 1996 .

[93]  Allison M. Schenk,et al.  Prevalence, Psychological Impact, and Coping of Cyberbully Victims Among College Students , 2012 .

[94]  Everett V. Smith,et al.  Evidence for the reliability of measures and validity of measure interpretation: a Rasch measurement perspective. , 2001, Journal of applied measurement.

[95]  Ersilia Menesini,et al.  Recalling unpresented hostile words: False memories predictors of traditional and cyberbullying , 2012 .