Cyberbullying in High School and University Students: The Roles of Gender, Age and Internet Spending Time

Although the use of Information and Communication Technologies in education has many positive effects, it has also brought about global problems such as cyberbullying. This study was designed to determine the situation of cyberbullying, which has increased due to its widespread use due to current needs, in a small city located in Central Western Anatolia, Turkey, after the COVID-19 pandemic. While high school and university students were included in the study and the age factor was evaluated, gender and internet spending time were also evaluated. The data of 111 female and 89 male (n: 200) volunteer students were included in the study. 68 (34%) of the students were from high school and 132 (66%) from university. The ‘Cyberbullying Scale’ was used in the study. 53.5% (n = 107) of all participants reported that they were subjected to cyberbullying, while 34.5% (n = 69) reported that they were bullied. The results of the studies revealed that male students have a higher tendency to engage in cyberbullying, that male students are exposed to cyberbullying at the same rate as female students, that high school students are exposed to cyberbullying at a similar rate to university students, that students spend approximately one-third of their waking hours in the virtual environment, and that male students and high school students are exposed to cyberbullying more frequently.