Cyberbullying according to sociodemographic and academic characteristics among university students

Inmaculada Méndez Mateo
Cecilia Ruiz Esteban
Juan Pedro Martínez Ramón
Fuensanta Cerezo Ramírez

Abstract

There is evidence of the existence of both bullying and cyberbullying in the university environment. The aim of this study is to analyse the differences between cyberbullying roles (target, perpetrator, and bystander) according to sociodemographic and academic variables (sex, age, origin, level of studies, and faculty). The participants were 765 young students (72.9 % women) from a university of the southeast of Spain (83.7 % undergraduate degree, 15.2 % Master’s degree, and 1.1 % other studies) from different faculties. The Questionnaire on Harassment among University Students
tool was used. The results of the study determined that women, people aged under 20, undergraduate degree students, and Humanities, Social Sciences, and Health Sciences students obtained higher values in the sub-scales evaluated. Among the roles of those involved, bystanders stood out, followed by perpetrators and victims. Regression analysis showed a relationship between being the target, perpetrator, and/or bystander of cyberbullying. The study will make it possible to focus on those sociodemographic variables that turned out to be significant as well as the relationship between
the cyberbullying roles in the face of prevention and intervention programs for each of the roles. The university context must assume the importance of promoting coexistence and university welfare. The involvement of the entire
educational community is also relevant.

This is the English version of an article originally printed in Spanish in issue 273 of the revista española de pedagogía. For this reason, the abbreviation EV has been added to the page numbers. Please, cite this article as follows: Méndez, I., Ruiz Esteban, C., Martínez, J. P., & Cerezo, F. (2019). Ciberacoso según características sociodemográficas y académicas en estudiantes universitarios | Cyberbullying according to sociodemographic and academic characteristics among university students. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77 (273), 261-276. doi: 10.22550/REP77-2-2019-06

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Author Biography

Inmaculada Méndez Mateo holds a degree and a PhD in Psychology from the Universidad de Murcia. She works as Assistant Professor at this university and as Quality Coordinator at ISEN Centro Universitario. Her research areas include: social and health risk behaviours in childhood, adolescence and youth (drug consumption, bullying, etc.), as well as active and healthy ageing.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8458-5314

Cecilia Ruiz Esteban holds a degree in Educational Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a Master of Science in Education from Bucknell University and a PhD in Psychology from the Universidad de Murcia. She Works as a Lecturer at this university and as Lead Researcher in the EIPSED Research Group (Research Team in Educational Psychology) of the Universidad de Murcia. Her main areas of research deal with bullying and cyberbullying among peers, personal variables in the teaching-learning process and the quality of higher education.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5836-331X

Juan Pedro Martínez Ramón holds a degree and a PhD in Psychology from the Universidad de Murcia. Degree in Educational Psychology from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) of Madrid. Lecturer in the Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Universidad de Murcia. His areas of research revolve around school coexistence, teacher stress and care for diversity.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1770-6598

Fuensanta Cerezo Ramírez is an Assistant Honorary Lecturer at the Universidad de Murcia. Her research focuses on bullying, teacher training, victimisation at school, the perception of teachers, students and parents regarding school coexistence plans, development of a distance programme to improve coexistence through emotional intelligence, bullying and cyberbullying in university classrooms.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3160-9930

Citación recomendada | Recommended citation

Mateo, I. M., Esteban, C. R., Martínez Ramón, J. P., & Ramírez, F. C. (2019) . Cyberbullying according to sociodemographic and academic characteristics among university students. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77(273). https://www.revistadepedagogia.org/rep/vol77/iss273/16