Stereotypical Beliefs about Cyber Bullying: An Exploratory Study in terms of Myths

Abstract

The present study investigates stereotypical beliefs about cyber bullying in terms of myths, a well applied concept in the study of beliefs concerning sexual aggression. The level of acceptance of cyber bullying myths (low vs. high) and the relation of myth acceptance to a number of demographic variables such as gender, field of studies, frequency of Internet use and type of online activity are examined. Also, beliefs about the forms, in terms of severity, and motives with respect to the acceptance of cyber bullying myths are assessed. University undergraduates from the Democritus University of Greece (n = 304) participated in the study. First, they completed a new measure assessing stereotypical beliefs about cyber bullying. Then, they ranked cyber bullying forms in terms of severity and they evaluate 5 different motives of cyber bullying. Exploratory factor analysis along with reliability testing yielded a 32 item scale with satisfactory psychometric properties. Overall, participants were found to accept cyber bullying myths moderately. Men, science and technology students, high users of the Internet and those who prefer chatting, gaming and social media when online found to accept myths higher, except those regarding the perpetrator. Significant differences regarding the ranking of cyber bullying forms and the assessment of motives were also obtained with respect to the variables mentioned above.