Study of the Influencing Factors of Cyberbullying Among Chinese College Students Incorporated With Digital Citizenship: From the Perspective of Individual Students

Abstract

Understanding the influencing factors of cyberbullying is key to effectively curbing cyberbullying. Among the various factors, this study focused on the personal level of individual students and categorized the influencing factors of cyberbullying among college students into five sublevels, i.e., background, Internet use and social network habits, personality, emotion, and literacy related to digital citizenship. Then a questionnaire survey was applied to 947 Chinese college students. The results show that cyberbullying among Chinese college students are generally at a low level. There are many factors influence cyberbullying. Specifically, at the personal background level, gender has a significant impact on cyberbullying and being cyberbullied. In terms of personal Internet use and social network habits, students’ average daily online time has no significant correlation with cyberbullying and being cyberbullied; however, the proportion of online non-learning time has a significantly positive correlation with cyberbullying, and the proportion of online learning/work time has a significant impact on being cyberbullied. At the personality level, the Big Five personality traits have varying degrees of correlation with and influence on cyberbullying and being cyberbullied. At the personal emotions level, students’ life satisfaction has a significantly negative correlation with cyberbullying and being cyberbullied while it only has a significant impact on being cyberbullied; the personal stress and empathetic concern aspects of empathy have a significantly positive correlation with cyberbullying and being cyberbullied among female students. At the literacy related to digital citizenship level, students’ understanding of and compliance with Internet etiquette have significantly negative impacts on cyberbullying; the ability to communicate and collaborate online and Internet addiction have significantly positive impacts on cyberbullying and being cyberbullied; the understanding of and compliance with relevant digital laws and regulations have significantly negative correlations with cyberbullying and being cyberbullied. Overall, college students’ digital citizenship level has a significantly negative correlation with cyberbullying but no significant correlation with being cyberbullied. Finally, analysis and suggestions were provided according to these statistical results and the effects of these factors on cyberbullying and being cyberbullied among college students, so as to help solve this problem and provide a new perspective for research in this field.

Factors associated with cyberbullying among vocational students based on the ecological system model in an ethnic minority area

“…Following the review of previous research [ 12 , 15 ] and consultation with researchers and health professionals, a short, self-administered questionnaire was designed to investigate the ecological system information. Before the formal investigation, 2 experts in pedagogy and health education were invited to inspect the rationality and logic of the questionnaire and asked to modify any unclear expressions.…”

“…In contrast to the abundance of large-scale studies on colleges, high schools, and junior and elementary schools, there have been relatively few attempts to collect data among vocational high schools. [ 10 , 12 ] Understanding CB and CV among this group is an important part of public health, and the present study attempts to help fill this gap.…”

Network Anonymity and Cyberbullying among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…However, other researchers claimed a possible negative association between perceived anonymity and cyberbullying behavior in China. Students in China have to attend some lessons on Internet literacy, which indicates that they may identify themselves with their role as digital citizens in the anonymous online world, which may be negatively correlated with the degree of cyberbullying behavior [ 15 ]. Moreover, China is a country that the network real-name system has been largely achieved, which could change the nature of the phenomenon.…”

A Critical Review of the Impacts of Digital Citizenship on Teachers and Students’ Educational Development

“…The study recommends enhancing digital citizenship education to prepare the learners for the appropriate, responsible, and ethical use of technology. Zhong et al (2021) The results of this study have shown that there is a low level of cyberbullying among Chinese students at colleges. The study also indicates that factors such as gender have a significant impact on cyberbullying.…”

“…On the other hand, a study in the USA stated that schools and universities have underlined the negative features of technology and how it is misused by users (Walters et al, 2019). Similarly, Zhong et al (2021) stated that understanding the influencing factors of technology is key for the effective reduction of cyberbullying. According to this study, these influencing factors include the individual level of learners and have classified cyberbullying between learners in the college into five sublevels.…”