(Under)Reporting Incidents of Cyberbullying in Higher Education: Presenting a Validated Scale of Victimization

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: Division J Poster Session: College Student Success

Abstract

Online harassment and cyberbullying on social media are major issues in higher education particularly among legal affairs, student safety, and campus climate practitioners. As universities design policies and processes for protecting students from online harassment, valid instruments and research are needed to measure the scope of cyberbullying victimization on campus. However, higher education researchers have not reached consensus on how to measure victimization and thus have conflicting conclusions on the scope of the issue. Building on the strengths of the adolescent cyberbullying literature, this paper presents the validation of the leading cyberbullying victimization measurement for an undergraduate sample and explores the extent to which college students experience cyberbullying and to whom they report these experiences.

Author

• Virginia Byrne, Morgan State University