Development and Piloting of the Identification of Harassers and Victims of Cyber Harassment Questionnaire

This present study developed and tested the Identification of Harassers and Victims of Cyber Harassment Questionnaire (IHVCHQ). To generate questions for the IHVCHQ, prior to the present study, the author reviewed the empirical literature and conducted face-to-face interviews with 43 victims of Internet harassment. From this effort, an 88-item (44 cyber harassment items, 44 cyber victimization items) questionnaire was developed. The pilot survey was reviewed by a subject matter expert, a questionnaire development expert, faculty members, and graduate students. The present study involved administration of the survey to 538 students at a large university to establish the factor structure and refine the questionnaire. Specifically, the initial questionnaire data was subjected to two principal axis exploratory factor analyses: one for 44 victimization questions and one for 44 harasser questions. In each case, a four factor solution was obtained. Questions with a factor loading less than .30, with loadings on two factors, or which did not fit the factor conceptually were deleted. This process resulted in 27 questions retained for the final victim scale and 22 questions retained for the final harasser scale. To establish concurrent validity, 84 of the 538 respondents completed two brief instruments used in previous cyber harassment research. Both the victim and harasser scores from the IHVCHQ were significantly and positively correlated with the victimization and harassment scores from Ybarra, Diner-West, and Leaf s (2007) measure of Internet harassment. Although IHVCHQ scores were correlated with three harassment items from Raskaukas and Stoltz's (2007) cyberbullying scale (i.e., Internet Experiences Questionnaire), the IHVCHQ did not correlate with victimization frequency items from the Internet Experiences Questionnaire. The lack of correspondence may reflect differences in the response scale and the specific three-item nature of the victim portion of the Internet Experiences Questionnaire. The IHVCHQ victim and harasser scores were modestly correlated with a short version of the Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Strahan & Gerbasi, 1972). The strong four-factor structure of the IHVCHQ and correlations with items used by Ybarra et al. (2007) to assess Internet victimization and harassment suggest that the IHVCHQ may have the potential to expand our understanding of cyber harassment.