Pattern and correlates of cyberbullying victimization among Egyptian university students in Beni-Suef, Egypt

BACKGROUND: The expansion of the online environment has unveiled many cyber risks and potentials for abuse such as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying carries many negative psychological impacts that affect mainly young people.

AIM: The objective of our study is to explore the of cyberbullying victimization among Egyptian university students in Beni-Suef and investigate factors correlating with it.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a multi-stage random sampling was used to include a total of 6740 students from all grade levels in all faculties (n=28) of Beni-Suef University. After 4 focus group discussions, a self-administered questionnaire was designed for data collection. The questionnaire comprised three sections including questions about selected socio-demographic characteristics, exposure to cyberbullying in the past 6 months, and factors associated with victimization.

RESULTS: Almost half of our students (48.2%) reported experiencing cyberbullying victimization in the past 6 months. Female students, students living in urban areas and those who spent more hours using the internet reported more exposure (p<0.001). Harassment was the main type stated by females (79.8%) while flaming was excessively reported by males (51.8%). Students responded mostly by anger (63.1%), hatred (23.2%) and sorrow (22.6%) towards the worst victimization incidents.

CONCLUSION: Cyberbullying victimization is highly prevalent amongst university students in Beni-Suef and female students are more vulnerable to exposure, Implementing anti-cyberbullying programs tailored for university students will be a major step. Such programs should include anti-cyberbullying policies and materials, and provision of guidance for students, their parents and their teaching staff.