Abstract
BackgroundTraditional bullying victimization and the growing number of cyber-teasing victims during the last decade is a major public health concern. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between students’ experiences of traditional bullying victimization and cyber-teasing and the sociodemographic characteristics of a sample composed of college students in Spain.MethodsIn the fall of 2014, 543 sixth-grade students from southeast Spain completed an anonymous survey on their experience of both kinds of to ascertain any relationship with sociodemographic characteristics, including gender, nationality, economic problems, family conflicts and alcohol and cannabis use.ResultsA total of 62.2 % of the students reported to having suffered traditional bullying victimization and 52.7 % reported that they had been subject to cyber-teasing. 40.7 % of participants had been victims of traditional bullying victimization and cyber-teasing in the past 12 months. Most (65.7 %) of the victims were at the same time cyber-teasing victims; 77.6 % of cyber-teasing victims were also victimized in a different manner. Traditional bullying victimization was higher among boys than among girls, while female students were more likely to have been subjected to cyber-teasing than male students. The characteristics that most heavily influenced suffering traditional bullying victimization were economic problems, family conflicts and cannabis use.ConclusionsOur findings confirm overlapping results in the risk factors that influence suffering both traditional bullying victimization and cyber-teasing: there was a strong influence of certain sociodemographic and individual characteristics of the college population, suggesting that specific policies are necessary to improve college students’ environment in Spain.
Highlights
Traditional bullying victimization and the growing number of cyber-teasing victims during the last decade is a major public health concern
The purpose of the current study is to study the prevalence of traditional bullying victimization and cyberteasing and their association among college students in the southeast of Spain, and to analyze the influence of individual and sociodemographic characteristics on the risk of suffering traditional bullying victimization and cyber-teasing among college population
Prevalence and overlap of traditional bullying victimization and cyber-teasing Table 1 describes the sociodemographic characteristics of the survey college population for full sample and by gender
Summary
Traditional bullying victimization and the growing number of cyber-teasing victims during the last decade is a major public health concern. The internet and other electronic media offer many benefits to adolescents, even though previous cross-sectional studies have shown that cyberbullying and cyber-teasing among the school population is associated with mental health problems such as depression, suicidal thoughts and non-fatal suicidal behavior among school students [3,4,5]. Previous studies have found rates of cyber-bullying among young regular Internet users (between 10 and 17 years old) that range from 4 to 72 % [9, 10], and Caravaca Sánchez et al BMC Public Health (2016) 16:176 lower rates among college population compared to adolescent samples ranging from 9 to 20 % [11,12,13,14]. Victims frequently suffer additional problems involving aggressiveness, substance use or delinquency [15]
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