Research Report: Cyberbullying Prevalence, Gender, and Outcomes

This research report investigates the prevalence of cyberbullying and its relationship with psychological outcomes and coping styles among Australian university students. The study explores gender differences in cyberbullying experiences, finding a higher prevalence among females. It examines the associations between victimization levels and depression, anxiety, and coping mechanisms. The findings indicate a statistically significant relationship between cyberbullying, anxiety, and coping styles. The study employs descriptive and inferential statistics, including t-tests and ANOVA, to analyze the quantitative data. The report includes an abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, results, and discussion sections, providing a comprehensive analysis of cyberbullying's impact on students' mental health. The results were in contrary with the findings by (Cassidy, Faucher, & Jackson, 2018) and (Kowalski, & Giumetti, 2017). This study contributes to the understanding of cyberbullying's psychological effects and offers insights into potential interventions.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY 1
Psychology
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<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

PSYCHOLOGY 5
Method
Participants
Australian university students taking psychology took part in the study where they were given a
sheet with the required information to feel during tutorial class. In addition, the Human Research
Ethics Committee of the Australian University approved the research protocol.
A total of 225 participants (male=54, females=169, missing=1) took place in the study.
Additionally, an Online questionnaire (PDF 121 KB) Preview the document containing
Cyberbullying scale which is a 10-item was filled by the participants. The options to be filled by
the students ranges from Never (1) to >5 times (5) each week. Three levels of classifications
after score sheet from the students included Never=1; Single episode=2, and Repeated=3.
For females, means age=20.51, SD=3.9, range= 17-33 years and for males; means
age=22.63, SD=5.9, range= 17-32 years.
Results
The selected dataset is quantitative in nature hence can be analyzed using both
descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics are used to describe and
summarize the data in the form of frequencies, percentages, and means. The inferential statistics,
on the other hand, are used to help make inferences and draw conclusions. Statistical test
including, standard deviations, T-Tests, and ANOVA is also used to test the hypothesized
statements. All tests of significance were computed at α = 0.05.
Descriptive statistics
According to the results in the statistics table, the mean and standard deviation of
victimizations among the sampled populations is 1.83 and 0.71 respectively. Furthermore, the
findings indicate that majority of the respondents; 104 (46.4%) had experienced a single episode
of cyberbullying while 79 (35.3%) of the respondents have never been a victim of cyberbullying.
However, 41 (18.3%) of the respondents have experienced repeated victimization when it comes
to cyberbullying.
Descriptive Statistics
N M
ean
Std.
Deviation
Victimisati
on levels
22
4
1.
8304 .71359
Valid N
(listwise)
22
4

PSYCHOLOGY 6
Victimization levels
Fre
quency
Pe
rcent
Valid
Percent
Cumulat
ive Percent
V
alid
NEV
ER 79 35
.3 35.3 35.3
SIN
GLE 104 46
.4 46.4 81.7
REP
EATED 41 18
.3 18.3 100.0
Total 224 10
0.0 100.0
Use Comparing Means scores in self-esteem, anxiety, and depression across the different
victimization groups (never, single episode, repeated). The results confirm a 99.6% difference.
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Included Excluded Total
N Pe
rcent
N Pe
rcent
N Per
cent
Victimisation
levels * SELFEST *
DEPRESS * ANXIETY
22
4
99
.6% 1 0.
4%
22
5
100
.0%
Prevalence of cyberbullying and its variation based on gender
After transforming the variables on the prevalence of cyberbullying, the results in the
figure below show that more females; 169 (75.78%) in one way or the other experienced
cyberbullying compared to 54 (24.22%) of males. From the results, majority of the females; 112
(50.22%) experienced low prevalence of cyberbullying while 57 (25.56%) experienced high
prevalence of cyberbullying. Furthermore, only 32 (14.35%) of males experienced low levels of
cyberbullying while 22 (9.87%) of males experienced high prevalence of cyberbullying. In a
nutshell, more females; 57 (25.56%) experienced high prevalence of cyberbullying compared to
22 (9.87%) of their male counterparts.
In order to find out whether there is a statistically significant difference between gender
and prevalence of cyberbullying, Chi-Square Tests results were generated. However, given that
the p-value >0.05 indicates that there was no statistically significant difference between gender
and prevalence of cyberbullying.

PSYCHOLOGY 7
Chi-Square Tests
Va
lue
df Asymp
. Sig. (2-sided)
Exact
Sig. (2-sided)
Exact
Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-
Square
.8
80a 1 .348
Continuity
Correctionb
.6
00 1 .439
Likelihood Ratio .8
68 1 .351
Fisher's Exact
Test .414 .218
Linear-by-Linear
Association
.8
76 1 .349
N of Valid Cases 22
3
a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
19.13.
b. Computed only for a 2x2 table
The relationship between psychological outcome (Depression) and
different victimization levels
For the purpose of testing whether there is a relationship between psychological outcome
(Depression) and different victimization levels, a sample t-test was conducted given that the data
is correlational not causation. According to the results, the chosen psychological outcome which

PSYCHOLOGY 8
is depression has a mean of 2.2 with a standard deviation of 0.9 higher than the mean of
Victimisation levels which is at 1.8 with a standard deviation of 0.7 as shown.
However, while looking at the One-Sample Test results, the p-value is less than 0.05
confirms that there is a statistical significance difference. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis
that states that there is not a statistically significant association between psychological outcome
(depression) and different victimization levels. This implies that depression varies by the
frequencies of experiencing cyberbullying among the population.
One-Sample Statistics
N M
ean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error Mean
DEPRESS 22
4
2.
2059 .89791 .05999
Victimisati
on levels
22
4
1.
8304 .71359 .04768
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
t df Sig.
(2-tailed)
Mean
Difference
95% Confidence
Interval of the Difference
Lower Upper
DEPRESS 36.
769
22
3 .000 2.2059
0 2.0877 2.3241
Victimisati
on levels
38.
389
22
3 .000 1.8303
6 1.7364 1.9243
The association between cyberbullying, psychological outcome (anxiety) and coping
style (problem) for the different victimization levels
In order to find out the relationship between cyberbullying, psychological outcome
(anxiety) and coping style (problem) for the different victimization levels, ANOVA table was
generated using SPSS. The results indicate a high statistically significant association since p-
value <0.05. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis that states that there is not a statistically
significant association between cyberbullying, psychological outcome (depression) and coping
style (problem) for the different victimization levels.
ANOVA Table
Sum
of Squares
d
f
Me
an Square
F S
ig.
ANXIE
TY * SELFEST
Betwe
en Groups
(C
ombined)
65.2
32
2
4
2.7
18
4
.459
.0
00
Within Groups 121.
309
1
99
.61
0
Total 186.
541
2
23

PSYCHOLOGY 9
Discussion
The main aim of the study report is to determine the prevalence of cyberbullying and its
variation based on gender in the sample. The hypothesis established that there is a statistically
significant association between psychological outcome (Depression) and different victimization
levels. In addition, there is a statistically significant association between cyberbullying,
psychological outcome (anxiety) and coping style (problem) for the different victimization
levels.
The findings indicate that more females; 57 (25.56%) experienced a high prevalence of
cyberbullying compared to 22 (9.87%) of their male counterparts. This is in contrary to the
results established by (Cassidy, Faucher, & Jackson, 2018), who confirmed that the prevalence
and nature of cyberbullying among students in to be around 67.2% and that males are more
likely to be bullied unlike to females.
According to the results, there is not a statistically significant association between
psychological outcome (depression) and different victimization levels. This implies that
depression varies by the frequencies of experiencing cyberbullying among the population. The
results are on contrary to the findings by (Kowalski, & Giumetti, 2017) who said that
cyberbullying have an impact on the psychological factors such as depression among students
exposed to cyberbullying.
In the association between cyberbullying, psychological outcome (anxiety) and coping
style (problem) for the different victimization levels, the results show that a high statistically
significant association since p-value <0.05. The finding is in agreement by a study by (Giumetti,
& Kowalski, 2016) who 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.
The association between cyberbullying, psychological outcome (anxiety) and coping
style (problem) for the different victimization levels do exist. This implies that people who have
been cyberbullied have problems in coping up. On the same note, the results are supported by the
findings established by (Raskauskas, & Huynh, 2015) who stated that 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.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the majority of the respondents; 104 (46.4%) had experienced a single
episode of cyberbullying while 79 (35.3%) of the respondents have never been a victim of
cyberbullying. The means scores in self-esteem, anxiety, and depression across the different
victimization groups (never, single episode, repeated) confirmed a 99.6% difference. Again,
more females; 169 (75.78%) experienced cyberbullying compared to 54 (24.22%) of males.
From the results, the majority of the females; 112 (50.22%) experienced low prevalence of
cyberbullying while 57 (25.56%) experienced high prevalence of cyberbullying. Furthermore,
only 32 (14.35%) of males experienced low levels of cyberbullying while 22 (9.87%) of males
experienced high prevalence of cyberbullying. There was no statistically significant difference
between gender and prevalence of cyberbullying. Moreover, there is a statistically significant
association between psychological outcome (depression) and different victimization levels.
Finally, there is a statistically significant association between cyberbullying, psychological
outcome (depression) and coping style (problem) for the different victimization levels.

PSYCHOLOGY 10
As a result of the findings, there is a need to adopt effective policies that recognize and
prohibit cyberbullying. Clear anti-bullying policies are essential elements of a successful wide
prevention effort, for people to appropriately identify and respond to incidents of cyberbullying,
government policies must recognize any form cyberbullying as a form of aggression and must
contain clear prohibitions against these behaviors, the policies should clearly communicate a lack
of tolerance for cyberbullying due to race, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender
identity, and gender expression.
Limitations of the study
Unreliability of the respondents thinking that they will be victimized. Given that this was
a survey, there are chances that the respondents did not give their true feelings concerning the
cyberbullying. Furthermore, the sample size is not big enough thus limiting the generalization of
the findings to other populations.
Suggestions for future research
Gaps in research to formulate hypotheses is based on the fact that the association between
psychological outcome and the association between cyberbullying, psychological outcome and
coping style for the different victimization levels, it has not considered age and gender
differences which should be the next focus of hypotheses generations.
Future research should focus on the gender and environmental differential factors that in
one way or the other can lead to cyberbullying.

PSYCHOLOGY 11
References
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