Abstract
Little scientific attention has been paid to the problem of cyberbullying in the university environment, compared to similar studies conducted on adolescents. This study attempts to analyze the predictive capacity of certain emotional problems (anxiety, depression, and stress) and university adaptation with respect to cyberbullying in victims and aggressors. The European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire were administered to a sample of 1282 university students (46.33% male) aged between 18 and 46. The results suggest that high levels of depression and stress increase the probability of being a cyberbullying victim, while high levels of depression increase the probability of being a cyberbullying aggressor. Similarly, the personal–emotional and social adaptation of students are found to be predictor variables of being a cyberbullying victim, in that high levels of personal–emotional and social adaptation decrease the probability of being a victim, while high levels of personal–emotional, academic and institutional adaptation decrease the probability of being a cyberbullying victim. The results of this study are of special relevance, since they indicate that intervention programs should consider the influence of emotional intelligence, as well as the relevance students’ adaptation to university.
Highlights
An increasing number of studies are examining the issue of cyberbullying in the university environment (Faucher et al, 2014; Zalaquett and Chatters, 2014), revealing that higher education is not free from this phenomenon
The sample consisted of 1282 university students (46.33% males and 53.67% females) who studied in the Early Childhood Education Master’s degree program (24.88%), Primary Education Master’s degree program (27.77%), Psychology undergraduate degree program (17.16%), Physical Activity and Sports Science undergraduate degree program (15.83%), and undergraduate degree program in Business Administration and Management (14.36%)
The goal of the present study was to verify the predictive capacity of anxiety, depression, stress and university adaptation with respect to being a victim or aggressor of cyberbullying during higher education
Summary
An increasing number of studies are examining the issue of cyberbullying in the university environment (Faucher et al, 2014; Zalaquett and Chatters, 2014), revealing that higher education is not free from this phenomenon. There are benefits to this; there are newly arising problems associated with the inappropriate use of these new technologies. Some of the phenomena that are commonly associated with the school environment such as bullying have found their equivalents in new virtual scenarios or realities. Cyberbullies, who are highly skilled in these new digital scenarios, rely on these technologies to carry out aggressive behavior toward their peers (threats, harassment, bribes, Cyberbullying, Emotional Problems and Adaptation to the University insults, humiliation, publication of confidential information, identity theft, manipulation of photographs, recording, and dissemination of physical aggressions, etc.)
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