SELF-EFFICACY AND FAMILY DYNAMICS AS PREDICTORS OF CYBER BULLYING AMONG STUDENTS OF FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC NASARAWA, NASARAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

This study examined the influence of self-efficacy and family dynamics on cyberbullying among students of Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Employing a descriptive survey design, data were collected from a sample of 334 students, with 298 valid responses comprising 213 (71.5%) males and 85 (28.5%) females. The age distribution included 17–22 years (45.6%), 23–30 years (36.6%), and 31 years and above (17.8%), while marital status showed 219 (73.5%) single and 79 (26.5%) married. Educational status indicated 185 (62.1%) HND students and 113 (37.9%) ND students, with family types including nuclear (70.8%), extended (23.2%), and single-parent (6.0%). Participants were drawn using simple random sampling from the Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa. The instruments used included the Questionnaire of Systemic Family Dynamics (SSFD), General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE), and Revised Cyberbullying Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ), all demonstrating acceptable reliability coefficients. Three hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis at a 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that family dynamics subscale collectively predicted cyberbullying (R = .532, R² = .210, F(4, 294) = 15.930, p < .001), though individual subscales were not significant. Self-efficacy also significantly influenced cyberbullying (R = .369, R² = .136, F(3, 322) = 16.882, p < .001), with cohesion as the key predictor (β = .246, t = 2.742, p = .023). Jointly, self-efficacy and family dynamics accounted for 49% of the variance in cyberbullying (R = .332, R² = .490, F(2, 296) = 10.930, p < .001), but independently, neither was significant. Based on these findings, it is recommended that school management, in collaboration with psychologists, should provide accessible counseling servic