Journal of College Counseling

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY 1
Psychology
<Name>
<University Name>

PSYCHOLOGY 2
Abstract
Basically, cyberbullying refers to actions deemed to be of negative impacts after using
electronic devices with the main aim to harm the victims whom in one way or the other cannot
defend themselves. Therefore, the proposed research focused on determining the cyberbullying
prevalence and its gender differentials. The study further identified the relationships that exist
between the psychological outcome (Depression) and different victimization levels as well as the
relationship between cyberbullying, psychological outcome (anxiety) and coping style (problem)
for the different victimization levels. On the prevalence of cyberbullying, the findings indicate
that more females; 57 (25.56%) experienced high prevalence of cyberbullying compared to 22
(9.87%) of their male counterparts. In the first hypothesis, there is not a statistically significant
association between psychological outcome (depression) and different victimization levels. In
the second hypothesis, the results show that a high statistically significant relationship exists
between cyberbullying, psychological outcome (anxiety) and coping style (problem) for the
different victimization levels. Unfortunately, the present study did not fail to indicate the
associations between the prevalence of bullying and age categories and was limited to depression
and anxiety as the only chosen psychological outcomes from the survey data provided.
Keywords: Cyberbullying, depression, anxiety, coping, the prevalence

PSYCHOLOGY 3
Psychology
Introduction
While the implications of cyberbullying may include relatively minor incidents such as
abuse, it may also have long term and the more critical impact such as stress, anxiety, and
depression, (Slonje, & Smith, 2008). Cyberbullying is thus clearly a problem that deserves
investigation and prevention. The psychological factors and coping skills of cyberbullying
among people has not been well documented. This is one of the most certain explanations as to
why cyberbullying is still a problem despite the roles played by cybersecurity agents, (Parris,
Varjas, Meyers, J., & Cutts, 2012).
Literature Review
As much as people come from diverse cultural backgrounds where in some cases proper
parental supervision and control of these people is lacking, there is still needed to unearth the
psychological and coping factors associated with cyberbullying. Parents need to be in the
forefront when it comes to failure exercising control and nurturing their children contributes
cyberbullying, (Tokunaga, 2010).
Prevalence of cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is a global phenomenon, (Schenk, & Fremouw, 2012). In Europe the
prevalence of cyberbullying has been reported at least once during the current term ranged from
a low of 15% to 20% to a high of 70%.
Furthermore, approximately 60–80% of the students in Swedish elementary schools
(demarcated to Grades 4–6) reported that they had been bullied. Literature show that known
form of violence among societies is the cybercrime and it accounts for the prevalence of 30%,
(Machackova, Cerna, Sevcikova, Dedkova, & Daneback, 2013).
Again, (Cassidy, Faucher, & Jackson, 2018), confirmed 67.2% as the prevalence
cyberbullying among students in to be around. While cyberbullying seems to decrease with
gender, it appears that males are more likely to be bullied, unlike females.
Associated psychological outcomes
Studies have indicated that a majority of the students exposed to cyberbullying lack
adequate coping strategies and as a result, their self-esteem and development in all aspects of life
are affected due to stress and depression, (Chu, Fan, Liu, & Zhou, 2018).
Furthermore, (Reid, Holt, Bowman, Espelage, & Green, 2016), established that
cyberbullying is physically harmful, psychologically damaging and socially isolating aspects of a
large number of students school experience and he also they assert that students who are
cyberbullied have higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.
In addition, the results by (Kowalski, & Giumetti, 2017) confirmed that cyberbullying
have an impact on the psychological factors such as depression among students exposed to
cyberbullying. Therefore, their life keeps deteriorating as a result of cyberbullying thus affecting
their health in general.
In the association between cyberbullying, psychological outcome (anxiety), a study by
(Giumetti, & Kowalski, 2016) found out that cyberbullying and psychological outcome (anxiety)
have some form of relationships. This implies that those students who undergo cyberbullying are
likely to develop anxiety as compared to those who have not been exposed to cyberbullying.

PSYCHOLOGY 4
Copying
In a study by (Maiano, Aime, Salvas, Morin, & Normand, 2016), they found that majority
of the respondents: 44.6% agreed that coping with parent’s aggressive behavior made them
victims of cyberbullying. Furthermore, feeling generous than others was the main reason why
some students bullied their colleagues through the cyber, (Carver, Scheier, M.F., & Weintraub,
1989).
Additionally, (Varghese, & Pistole, 2017), established that the provision of psychosocial
support to those who have experienced cyberbullying. This will enhance individual protection
rights hence feeling comfortable o cope up with the past experiences of cyberbullying.
According to (Raskauskas, & Huynh, 2015), most students have various problems when
coping up with cyberbullying. Therefore, there is a need to counsel these students to ensure that
they do not become emotionally unstable since it may affect their developmental growth
processes.
Moreover, there is a need to involve families and communities in cyberbullying
prevention, (Espelage, & Hong, 2017). Families play a critical role in bullying prevention by
providing emotional support to promote disclosure of bullying incidents and by fostering coping
skills in their children. Parents need training on how to talk with their children about
cyberbullying, how to communicate their concerns about bullying and how to get actively
involved in cyberbullying prevention efforts.
Based on the above background studies, this, therefore, calls for an examination on
psychological factors and coping skills of cyberbullying in the sampled population.
Research question
1. What are the prevalence of cyberbullying and its variation based on gender in the
sample?
Alternate hypothesis
1. There is a statistically significant association between psychological outcome
(Depression) and different victimization levels
2. There is a statistically significant association between cyberbullying,
psychological outcome (anxiety) and coping style (problem) for the
different victimization levels
Null hypothesis
1. There is not a statistically significant association between psychological outcome
(Depression) and different victimization levels
2. There is not a statistically significant association between cyberbullying,
psychological outcome (anxiety) and coping style (problem) for the
different victimization levels