Cyberbullying

Abstract

A review of the literature showed that gender and culture affects behaviours associated with cyberbullying differently. Given that 2.5 billion people are estimated to use social media on a daily basis (eMarketer, 2016, June 30) highlights the seriousness of cyberbullying. The aim of the study was to explore if experience and incidence of cyberbullying would be influenced by culture and gender in Psychology students who are studying either in The UK or in North Cyprus. The study employed a quasi-experimental design using a questionnaire to obtain demographic and cyberbullying experience data A total of 104 Psychology students were recruited for the purpose of the study, with 54 (mean age, 22.2, SD = 3.2) participants from Middlesex University (Middlesex), UK and 50 (mean age, 23.2, SD = 1.90) students from the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU), North Cyprus. Of the 54 students from Middlesex University 26 were male (mean age, 22.8, SD = 3.30) and 28 were female (mean age, 21.6, SD = 2.97). Of the 50 participants from Eastern Mediterranean University 19 were male (mean age, 23.7, SD = 1.88) and 31 were female (mean age, 22.9, SD = 1.90). A demographic questionnaire and a 13-item questionnaire on cyberbullying experience were used. Three factors emerged from the analysis of the cyberbullying questionnaire namely; Factor 1 was labelled as Harassment and Masquerading, Factor 2 as Outing and Denigration and Factor 3 as Sexual Harassment. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences based on culture in Harassment and Masquerading and in Outing and Denigration. There was also a marginal significant interaction between culture and gender. In addition, when data were entered into a regression analysis it was found that total time spent using Instagram was a significant predictor of cyberbullying experience in comparison to other social media outlets. The findings are discussed within the current context of cyberbullying literature.

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