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A comprehensive investigation of cyberbullying and cyber victimization among secondary school students

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Abstract

One of the most fundamental problems many students face in school is bullying. This form of harassment, known as cyberbullying, has emerged as the use of the internet and other digital media has increased in recent years. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of secondary school students’ cyberbullying and cyber victimization experiences, to see if there is a correlation between cyberbullying and cyber victimization, and to explore how students’ cyberbullying or cyber victim status influences their cyber victim or cyberbullying behavior. Unlike experimental studies, which use manipulation and random assignment of participants and conditions, the study employed a causal-comparative research design, in which the researcher investigates the causes and consequences of differences between groups. The sample group of the study consists of 286 secondary school students in the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades who were recruited using the typical case sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. The data were collected via the scales of cyberbullying and cyber victimization. According to the findings, cyberbullying is significantly and positively influenced by cyber victimization. Instead of looking at cyberbullying in isolation, it was suggested that a more effective approach to solving the problem would be to integrate cyberbullying and cyber victimization holistically.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Sciences, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Hasan Güllü

  2. Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

    Engin Karahan

  3. Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Ahmet Oğuz Akçay

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  1. Hasan Güllü
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  2. Engin Karahan
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  3. Ahmet Oğuz Akçay
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Correspondence to Engin Karahan.

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The data sets are deposited in repositories located in the public university. The data generated and analyzed during the current study are available anonymized from the corresponding author by request. The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The authors declare no competing interests. The authors contributed to all stages of the production of the manuscript including the data collection, analysis, and writing of the paper. The findings, conclusions, and opinions herein represent the views of the authors. No funding was received for the study.

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Güllü, H., Karahan, E. & Akçay, A.O. A comprehensive investigation of cyberbullying and cyber victimization among secondary school students. Educ Inf Technol 28, 12633–12650 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11687-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11687-8

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