Prevalence of Cyber Bullying Victims and its Associated Factors among Form 2 and Form 4 Secondary School Students in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

Abstract

The number of cases of cyber bullying reported in schools had been alarming in these recent years. Increased accessibility of mobile phone and internet among secondary school students have made them more susceptible of becoming cyber bullying victims. These victims consequently will encounter mental health problems such as depression and anger that may lead to psychosomatic disorder and suicidal attempt in severe cases. This study focussed on determining the prevalence of cyber bullying and its associated factors among secondary school students. A cross sectional study was conducted among 482 of Form 2 and Form 4 school students in Kuala Terengganu. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Data were analysed by using SPSS version 22. The descriptive statistics was applied to obtain frequency and percentage for categorical data. Simple logistic regression and Pearson Chi-square were used to determine the association between the independent variables and cyber bullying victimisation. The prevalence of cyber bullying victims in this study was 2.1% and total of 8.1% reported had been cyber bullied for lifetime. Four factors were found to be significantly associated with being a victim of cyber bullying; age (p = 0.010), type of school (p = 0.036), gender (p = 0.011) and perception towards family relationship (p = 0.006). In conclusion, the prevalence of cyber bullying victimisation in Kuala Terengganu is low in comparison to worldwide data. Although the prevalence is low, cyber-victimisation is progressing in numbers by year and there is a need to plan for proper intervention programs to enhance awareness among secondary school students to curb this issue.