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. 2020 Jan 21:10:3074.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03074. eCollection 2019.

Cyberbullying in the University Setting. Relationship With Emotional Problems and Adaptation to the University

María Carmen Martínez-Monteagudo  1 , Beatriz Delgado  1 , José Manuel García-Fernández  1 , Cecilia Ruíz-Esteban  2
Affiliations

Cyberbullying in the University Setting. Relationship With Emotional Problems and Adaptation to the University

María Carmen Martínez-Monteagudo et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Little scientific attention has been paid to the problem of cyberbullying in the university environment, compared to similar studies conducted on adolescents. This study attempts to analyze the predictive capacity of certain emotional problems (anxiety, depression, and stress) and university adaptation with respect to cyberbullying in victims and aggressors. The European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire were administered to a sample of 1282 university students (46.33% male) aged between 18 and 46. The results suggest that high levels of depression and stress increase the probability of being a cyberbullying victim, while high levels of depression increase the probability of being a cyberbullying aggressor. Similarly, the personal-emotional and social adaptation of students are found to be predictor variables of being a cyberbullying victim, in that high levels of personal-emotional and social adaptation decrease the probability of being a victim, while high levels of personal-emotional, academic and institutional adaptation decrease the probability of being a cyberbullying victim. The results of this study are of special relevance, since they indicate that intervention programs should consider the influence of emotional intelligence, as well as the relevance students' adaptation to university.

Keywords: adaptation to university; anxiety; cyberbullying; depression; stress.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Probability of being a cyberbullying victim or aggressor based on level of anxiety, depression and stress.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Probability of being a cyberbullying victim or aggressor based on adaptation to the university.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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