Exploring Modes, Strategies, and Psychosocial Consequences of Cyberbullying Perpetration and Victimization Among University Students

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore modes, strategies, and consequences of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization among university students. In-depth interviews of 14 volunteer university students (8 male and 6 female) were conducted who volunteered to participate in the study in which 10 participants were “cybervictims” whereas 4 were “cyberbully-victim”. Interview guide was used for conducting unstructured interviews. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed different experiences in cyberspace with respect to gender and role (cybervictim and cyberbully-victim) in experiencing cyberbullying and cyber-victimization. Three themes emerged that is psychological consequences (emotional, behavioral, and cognitive), social consequences (family and peers), and change in lifestyle (online, offline, and academic). Facebook was found to be the most prevalent mode of cyberbullying. The cyberbully-victim participants derived more happiness while bullying and had revengeful attitude; whereas, cybervictims experienced more depression, increased family surveillance, social isolation, and became aware of negative consequences of social networking sites, became more vigilant and conscious in cyberspace. Moreover, the consequences reported by cyberbully-victim were distrust on security settings, low academic achievement, and their peers learnt from their cyberspace experience. Perception of cyber-victimization was different across gender and its psychological impact was more pronounced for girls than boys. The results and implications were discussed in Pakistani context.

Assessing Psychological Effects of Cyberbullying on the Adolescents of a Cosmopolitan City

“…The intense effects ranged from affecting mental health, difficulty in concentrating in the study, long absence in school to lowering of self-esteem, blaming oneself, isolating himself from the society. It also included extreme impacts like that of harming others, self-harm, and even committing suicide (Kanwal & Jami, 2019). The experience of cyberbullying is quite strenuous for the victims, and the intensity of the effects varies from person to person.…”

The Effect of Traumatic Events on Social Behavior of University Students

“…Moreover, interaction with such an event that is perceived as trauma by an individual can alter his capability to arrange educational tasks priority-wise and practically attempt such educational tasks in the long term after the trauma experience (Bohannon et al, 2019). A significant amount of literature was available in Pakistani culture focusing on different traumatic events separately (Malik et al, 2018;Bibi et al, 2019;Kanwal & Jami, 2019;Ahmed et al, 2020). But no previous studies focused on the overall impact of traumatic events on social behavior.…”

Socioeconomic Effects in Cyberbullying: Global Research Trends in the Educational Context

“…It has also been observed that numerous victims, while they are suffering bullying, present low academic performance, difficulty concentrating and truancy. In the future they will be more vulnerable to stress, negative emotions such as fear and having suicidal thoughts [55,56].…”