Attitudes of College Students to Cyberbullying in Higher Education

Clara Wajngurt, Ph.D

Queensborough Community College/City University of New York

Volume 1, Number 1, 2018

 

Abstract

This paper researches whether cyberbullying is an issue for college students. In fact, it is found that cyberbullying issues continue to evolve from graduation from high school. Particularly, we find that more college bound females get cyberbullied than college bound males, and more college bound females than college bound males will report the cyberbullying incident to a friend or an adult.

A suggestion is made to construct a policy that develops guidelines on campus when such incidents occur, and conclusions are recommended to suggest concrete methods for dealing with future cyberbullying incidents on a college campus.

ATTITUDES OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

TO CYBERBULLYING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

 

The use of electronic and information technology is a form of communication that manifests itself in several ways, namely, social online communication, instant messaging and texting. Instead of people communicating in the traditional manner, using eye-to-eye contact, social networking sites have become places to reinforce friendships and to make new friends. However, when social communication sites become misused by an individual, after one places private information on the Internet, this can be mishandled by others; especially where someone unknowingly chats with a person who might be a predator; or when people can post mean, intimidating rumors about someone. In these cases, this communication is unwelcome and dangerous.

Consider the following scenarios:

• Ann is a freshman at college. Many of the male students in her class find her attractive and some of the female students in Ann’s class are jealous of the attention Ann receives from the opposite sex. One of the jealous females in Ann’s class, takes a picture of Ann speaking to a male student on her cell and places this picture on FaceBook, with the headline Ann is a slut. The captions go viral and appear on major social networking sites.

• John receives innuendos about his sexuality on instant messaging from other people whom John assumes are his friends.

 

• Two student staff members at a college from different administrative departments are good friends. One day during lunch, an adult staff member from a different department takes a picture with his IPad of the two friends. The picture is posted later on Twitter. The administrative supervisor of one of the student staff members hears about the picture and verbally censures the student staff member, for talking administrative college business to another student staff member working in another administrative department at the college.

• Student X is taking an acting class and creates a video of himself- – acting out a scene from a popular movie. He then shares this video with some students in his acting class.

• These students post the video online without the permission of student X, where the video is seen all over the world. Then someone living in another continent creates a website of this movie and adds clips of the video of Student X amongst other material from this movie.

What is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is bullying through technology by using email, instant messaging, chat room exchanges, websites, text messages, or images sent to a cellular phone or any digital technology. It takes various forms (Kowalski, Limber & Agatson, 2012; Cassidy, Faucher & Jackson, 2014).

• Flaming which deals with online fights where people send or post messages that are angry and vulgar, e.g., Bob and Jim are texting to one another, insulting words of anger. Bob says that he “will get” Jim at the college tomorrow.

• Harassment which deals with online messages that are repeatedly offensive, rude and insulting, e.g., Bob finds when he gets home that Jim sent him 25 offensive texts on his cell. In addition Bob receives anonymous, cruel messages over the next couple of days from Jim’s friends.

• Impersonation which deals with pretending to be someone else by breaking into a person’s account and sending messages on that person’s profile in order to damage that person’s reputation e.g., Bob watched carefully as Jim logged into his email account and discovered Jim’s password. Later in the evening, Bob logged onto Jim’s email account and sent an offensive message to Jim’s brother, from Jim’s email account.

• Denigration which deals with sending or posting gossip or rumors about a person in order to damage the person’s reputation, e.g., Bob decides to create a “We Hate Jim” website where Bob and his friends post pictures, gossip, etc. that embarrass Jim.

• Cyberstalking which deals with repeated online messages that include threats of harm, violence and intimidation which make a person afraid for his safety e.g., Bob posts a sexually suggestive picture of Jim on a “We Hate Jim” website along with Jim’s email address and phone number so that Jim feels he doesn’t want to attend college anymore.

• Outing which deals with sharing someone’s personal information that should not be shared with others, e.g., Jim takes a picture of Bob in their exercise class as Bob struggles to do push-ups, and within seconds this picture of Bob is in everyone’s cellphone at the college.

• Trickery which deals with convincing someone to reveal secret or embarrassing information, and placing this information online, e.g., Jim works in the student government office at the college, and hears privately, that someone in the office was sexually abused as a child. Bob at one point claims to be Jim’s friend and asks Jim lots of questions about the people working in the student government office. Bob then forwards a message in his email to many mutual friends on campus about the personal information Jim gave him about people working in the student government office.

• Exclusion which deals with intentional exclusion of someone from an online group, e.g., Bob becomes part of a college student online group and tells the coordinator of the online group to not accept Jim. Now Jim is blocked from attending the college student online group.

Impact of Cyberbullying

It is known that bullying leads to physical and psychological damage for the one who is bullied (Wajngurt, 2014; Gradinger, Strohmeier & Spiel, 2009). Specifically bullying leads to issues involving self-esteem, anxiety, anger, depression, avoidance sometimes violence and suicide (Pappas, 2015). In addition, physical effects can include trouble sleeping at night, unexpected stomach aches, headaches, unexplained weight gain or weight loss (Cassidy, Faucher, Jackson, 2014). However with technology there is no escape from those who cyberbully – victimization is ongoing, the images/posts can be distributed world-wide and cannot be changed; and the cyberbullies are anonymous. A student (or adult) who has been cyberbullied may exhibit some of the following signs in addition to the psychological and physical signs of one who is bullied (Kowalski & Limber, 2013):

• Appears upset about sharing texts with others about online activity

• Appears anxious about receiving texts/emails, or walking away from the computer during while using the computer

• Deletes accounts or blocks others online suddenly

• Exhibits visual changes after using social media e.g., face appearance, mood swings, etc.

• Spends less time on the phone or the computer

• Seems uncomfortable about attending college courses, or pretends to be ill

• Withdraws from friends and family, and shows a lack of interest in social activities

• Experiences a decline in academic performance

Why Do People Cyberbully?

Cyberbullying behavior is aggressive behavior that is repetitive, intentional and occurs between individuals with unequal power. (Camodeca & Goossens, 2008). It includes a wide audience on the Internet and its effects are irretrievable. This means that in a regular face-to-face bullying situation, the one who is bullied can escape the uncomfortable situation by physically not appearing “on the scene.” (Minor, Smith & Brashen, 2013). In a cyberbullying context, texts/pictures appear online, for people anywhere in the world to view. When people use the Internet, people can create anonymous accounts and they appear “invisible.” Hence any bystanders of cyberbullying do not worry about punishment nor exposure, like in face-to-face bullying. Also the one who cyberbullies does not necessarily receive Internet feedback from the one who is cyberbullied nor from any of the observers of the post/email/text, so there are no observable consequences. Feinberg and Robey (2008) mention that “cyberbullies and victims are as likely to be female as male and more likely to be older, rather than younger adolescents. Some cyberbullies and victims are strangers, but most often they know each other (Schenk & Fremouw, 2012). Some cyberbullies remain anonymous or work in groups, making it difficult to identify the abuser.” According to Kowalski, Limber and Agatson (2012), “it is reasonable to assume that children (adults) who cyberbully share some of the characteristics traditional face-to-face bullies exhibit (pg.78). The cyberbullies are characteristic of dominant and assertive personalities, those who exhibit low impulse control or unstable tempers, people with little empathy or compassion, those who exhibit aggressiveness to others, or those having difficulty following rules (Bowers, 2014).

Cyberbullying Statistics

The following summarizes web tables from the U. S. Department of Education, Student Reports of Bullying and Cyberbullying:

The results from the 2013 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, April 2015 state the following cyberbullying statistics, as described in this table of percentages:

Percentages

     Percentages

    Percentages

Of approximately 25,000,000 students ages 12-18, across the country during the 2015 school year, more women than men reported cyberbullying incidents through the internet, instant messaging, email, and texting. Even though more men reported cyberbullying incidents once or twice during the school year, more women than men reported cyberbullying incidents once or twice a month. Adults were notified three times as much by women than by men.

These patterns seems to continue into college (Kraft & Wang, 2010), and this has become an issue of concern for university administrators (Johnson et al, 2016).

Method

Participants

A total of 60 undergraduate students in a community college in northeastern United States (22 males, 38 females) participated in the study. All students were enrolled in one of four remedial mathematics course taught by the same professor. The participants’ ages ranged from 18-68 years old. There were 53 students in the 18-23 age range, 3 students in the 24-29 age range, 2 students in the 41-45 age range and 2 students were ages 52 and above.

Procedure

A survey instrument containing fourteen questions on cyberbullying feelings, attitudes, behaviors and frequency of victimization was administered in class. The survey is a subset of questions found randomly in the literature by Qing Li (March 2010), who researched cyberbullying in the high schools. Students were informed that they were not obligated to complete the survey. A definition of cyberbullying was placed on top of the survey instrument. Anonymity was guaranteed with instructions not to record student names on the survey. Each student taking the survey was given a number and the surveys were kept confidentially by the instructor.

Results

Results are summarized and explained by the following tables:

Ia Victimization

How often have you been cyberbullied? (Question #1)

   Gender      Age Range

 

Table Ia tells us that although 70% (=42/60) students, have never been cyberbullied, 30%  (=18/60) have been cyberbullied, while approximately 27% (=16/60) female and 32% (=19/60) in the age range of 18-29 have been cyberbullied at least once.

Ib How many cyberbullied others? (Question #2)

    Gender    Age Range

 

Table Ib tells us 15% (=9/60) students have cyberbullied others with most of these students in the 18-23 age range.

IIa Feelings and Beliefs

About Cyberbullying? (Question #3)

    Gender    Age Range

Table IIa indicates that in general 70% (=42/60) of students are upset by the existence of cyberbullying with approximately 82% more females reacting (=31/38) than 50% males (=11/22). This is also demonstrated by approximately 70% (=37/53) of students ages 18-23 being upset by cyberbullying incidents.

IIb About Witnessing Cyberbullying (Question #5)

Gender Age Range

 

Table IIb further indicates that 85% (=51/60) of the students in the sample felt that

cyberbullying was a serious problem and we need to stop it.

IIIa Experiences

If you experienced cyberbullying what would you do? (Question #11)

        Gender     Age Range

Table IIIa shows that 40% = (24/60) of the students walked away from the one who cyberbullied while only 13% (=9/60) would confront the cyberbully directly. We also noticed that almost equal percentages of women, i.e., approximately 42% (=16/38) would share the cyberbullying incident with an adult or friend as opposed to males 41% (=9/22) doing the same thing.

 

IIIb If someone you know is cyberbullied would you report the cyberbullying to a college counselor, professor or administrator? (Question # 8)

       Gender     Age Range

 

Table IIIb demonstrates that approximately 2/3 of our sample would report cyberbullying to a college counselor, professor or administrator if someone they know is cyberbullied and many of these students who would report such a cyberbullying incident are 18-23 years of age.

IV. Bystander

How frequently have you been a witness to cyberbullying incidents? (Question # 7)

 Gender       Age Range

 

According to table IV approximately 58% (=35/60) in the total sample as opposed to 15% (=9/60)

of the men and approximately 43% (=26/60) females have been bystanders of cyberbullying incidents.

Va. Behaviors

Methods people use for cyberbullying (Question #12)

     Gender      Age Range

 

Table Va indicates that female cyberbullying is demonstrated approximately 43% (= 26/60)

of the time by looking at one’s cell phone or by sending someone harassing emails. Male cyberbullying is demonstrated approximately 26% (=16/60)of the time by sending someone harassing emails or through texting.

 

Vb. Dealing with cyberbullying (Question #14)

Gender    Age Range

 

Table Vb suggests that 50% (=30/60) believe that a possible way to deal with cyberbullying is by introducing a policy for cyberbullying on campus and 41% (=25/60) believe that educators

should be involved in dealing with this issue.

Discussion

Several concerns have been exemplified by the results. First, we recognize that cyberbullying is a higher education issue, and that college and university administrators should work on a policy that develops guidelines for dealing with this issue on campus and at home. Secondly, there is a concern that more than half of the students would walk away from someone who cyberbullies, and that in this case more females than males would report the incident to friend or adult. In general students do not want to be identified with the cyberbullying incident nor with the person who cyberbullies. There is a fear of involvement and fear of possible punishment on the part of the observer of the cyberbullying incident. Sometimes the culture at the university is to step back when someone is cyberbullied. Students don’t want to be blamed for online issues and perhaps female students do not want to be blamed for being part of cyberbullying events, which could deal with situations of power and attitudes, perhaps instead females would rather gossip about these situations. We found that women tended to be cyberbullied more than men in this study, and perhaps women tended to be involved in aggression that deals with more subtle day to day language and relationships like name calling, exclusion or rumor spreading rather than aggression, which males could exhibit, and is specifically more physical nature. Women as a result pick up cyberbullying threats more than males from their cell phones, specifically harassing emails sent to their cell phones where the intimidation is thought to be more verbal.

Limitations of the Study

The study is a pilot study that was limited to a community college in the Northeastern United States. The survey was administered to four classes of a particular instructor. The survey was subjective as it was based on the memories of an individuals’ experiences. Hence the validity of the survey is questioned and its reliability is not exactly determined. Specifically, the students in the study, over age 23, may have had to rely on their memories for cases of cyberbullying, if these situations occurred in high school or before. Therefore we need to increase the sample size and allow for various geographic locations and different age groups. The age range groups were not equal in size nor were the quantity of male participants in the study proportional to the quantity of female participats in the study. Also not discussed in detail was the incidence of cyberbullying on social media which is accessed by many of our college students.

Conclusion

This research signifies that cyberbullying is indeed a problem amongst students in our colleges and universities. With this in mind there are several possible solutions to consider:

• Develop a policy on cyberbullying with specific guidelines for your campus.

• Colleges need to educate faculty and staff about the existence of cyberbullying through webinars, conferences, and forums.

• Counseling departments should review periodically mental health treatment interventions or support networks for students who are cyberbullied.

• Create a help desk or anonymous email address for students who are cyberbullied or for students who cyberbully.

• Colleges need to promote and confirm proper uses of technology on campus and at home.

• Develop college programs, seminars, etc. for students so that the university is proactive in fighting cyberbullying on campus.

REFERENCES

 

Bowers, J. (2014). Understanding bystander behavior in cyberbullying encounters: An application of bystander effect theory. Retrieved from: https://asllabouthrtypos.files.woodpress.com/2014/07bowers-research-proposal-final-draft-fb-pdf

Camodeca, M. & Goossens, F. A. (2008). Children’s opinions on effective strategies to cope with bullying: The importance of bullying role and perspective, Educational Research, 47:1, 93-105.  DOI:10.1080/0013188042000337587

Cassidy, W., Faucher, C. & Jackson, M. (2017). Adversity in university: Cyberbullying and its impacts on students, faculty and administrators, International Journal Environment Research Public Health, 14 (8), 888.

Cassidy, W., Faucher, C. & Jackson, M. (2014).  The dark side of the ivory tower: Cyberbullying of university faculty and teaching personnel, Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 60 (2), 279-299.

Eskey, M. T. & Eskey Jr. M. T. (2014). Cyber-bullying in the online classroom: faculty as the victims. Retrieved by: www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/eskey3.pdf

Feinberg, T. & Robey, N. (2008). Cyberbullying school leaders cannot ignore cyberbullying but rather must understand its legal and psychological ramifications.  Principle Leadership, 9, 10-14.

Gradinger, P., Strohmeier, D. & Spiel, C. (2009). Traditional bullying and cyberbullying: Identification of risk groups for adjustment problems, Journal of Psychology, 217 (4), 205-213.

Johnson, L., Haralson, A., Batts, S., Brown, E., Collins, C., Travis, A. & Spencer, M. (2016). Cyberbullying on social media among college students.

Retrieved from: https://www.cpounseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/article_03b0bf24f16116603abcacff0000bee5e7pdf?sfvsn=4

Kowalski, R. M. & Limber, S. P. (July 2013). Psychological, physical and academic correlates of cyberbullying and traditional bullying, Journal of Adolescent Health, 53 (1),

s13-s20.

Kowalski, R., Limber, S. & Agatstor, P. (April 2012). Cyberbullying: Bullying in the digital age. John Wiley & Sons: Retrieved by: DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9604.2009.01431_5.x

Kraft, E. & Wang, J. (October 2010). An exploratory study of the cyberbullying and cyberstalking experiences and factors related to victimization of students, International Journal of Technoethics. Retrieved from: DOI: 104018/jte.2010100106. source:DBLP

Li, Q. (March 2010). Cyberbullying in high schools: A study of students’ behaviors and beliefs about this new phenomenon, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 19 (4),

372- 392.

Minor, M., Smith, G. & Brashen, H. (2013). Cyberbullying in higher education, Journal of Educational Research and Practice; 3(1), 15-29.

Pappas, S. (2015). Cyberbullying on social media linked to teen depression. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/51294-cyberbullying-social-media-teen-depression.html

Schenk, A. M. & Fremouw, W. J. (2012). Prevelance, psychological impact,and coping of cyberbully victims among college students. Journal of School Violence, 11 (1), 21-37.

US Department of Education (2015). Students reports of bullying and cyberbullying. Retrieved from: https://nces.edu.gov/pubs2015/2015056.pdf

Wajngurt, C. (May-June 2014). Prevention of bullying on campus. Academe, 100 (3),

39-41.

Willard, N. E. (2007). Cyberbullying and cyberthreats: Responding to the challenge of online social aggression, threats, and distress, Research Press. Retrieved from: https://www.researchpress.com/books/495/cyberbullying-and-cyberthreats

APPENDIX I

Definition of Cyberbullying

 

Cyberbullying is any behavior performed through electronic or digital media by individuals or groups that repeatedly communicates hostile or aggressive messages intended to inflict harm or discomfort on others. In cyberbullying experiences, the identity of the bully may or may not be known. Cyberbullying can occur through electronically-mediated communication at school; however, cyberbullying behaviors commonly occur outside school as well.

 

This is an anonymous survey. Please do not put your names anywhere.

 

Perceptions of Cyberbullying in College Age Students.

Gender:

• Male

• Female

What is your age?

• 18 – 23

• 24 – 29

• 30 – 35

• 36 – 40

• 41 – 45

• 46 – 51

• 52 or older

 

1. How often have you been cyberbullied? Check one that applies.

• Never

• Once/Twice

• A few times

• Many times

• Almost every day

 

2. How often have you cyberbullied others?

• Never

• Once/Twice

• A few times

• Many times

• Almost every day

3. On the following scale, check your reaction to cyberbullying

• No big deal

• Live with it

• Upset

• Very upset

• No opinion

4. If you have been cyberbullied, what happened after you told someone?

• It got better

• It got worse

• Nothing changed

• I never told anyone

 

5. What is your feeling about people being cyberbullied?

• They deserve it

• It’s too bad, but there is nothing we can do about it

• It is a very serious problem and we need to stop it

 

6. I have friends who (check all that apply)

• Have bullied others

• Have been bullied by others

• Have cyberbullied others

• Have been cyberbullied by others

• I have no friends

 

7. How frequently have you been a witness to cyberbullying incidents?

• Never

• Once/twice

• A few times

• Many times

• Almost every day

8. If you or someone you know were cyberbullied at school or at home, would you report the cyberbullying to a college counselor, professor or administrator?

• Probably yes

• Probably no

 

Please indicate your opinion to the following statements:

 

9. Cyberbullying is a normal part of the online world. There is nothing anyone can do to stop it

• Strongly agree

• Agree

• Neutral

• Disagree

• Strongly disagree

10. I know of someone who has been really hurt by cyberbullying.

• Strongly agree

• Agree

• Neutral

• Disagree

• Strongly disagree

Fill in and pick the best choice.

 

11. What do you do when you are cyberbullied? ______________________

 

Possible answer choices

• Do nothing

• Tell the cyberbully to stop

• Get away (e.g., log off) from the cyberbully

• Cyberbully other people

• Bully other kids

• Tell an adult

• Tell a friend

 

12. What are some methods that people can use for cyberbullying?______________________

 

Possible answer choices

• Looking in your cell phone

• Looking in your email

• Sending you harassing emails

• Sending you harassing pictures

• Texting

 

13. Why do people cyberbully?_________________________

 

Possible answer choices

• Low academic performance

• Low self-esteem

• High anxiety

 

14. What can we do to stop cyberbullying. _______________________

Possible answer choices

• Get parents and educators involved to talk about this

• Have the administration discuss this

• Introduce a policy for cyberbullying on campus