Evaluation of Cyber Bullying and Self-Esteem in High School Students

Abstract

Background: Cyber bullying (CB) is a repetitive use of information and communication technologies to harm other individuals. In recent years, CB has become more common among adolescents with the increase in availability of technological devices and technological developments. CB may harm the emotional, social and psychological development of the individuals of developmental age and social relations. CB is reported to be higher in people with low self-esteem. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of CB among high school students, to examine some variables which may be related and to evaluate self-esteem. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted between 1 May-30 June 2018 among high school students in Sivrihisar. The study group consisted of 712 students which 60.1% were female, 39.9% were male and the mean of ages was 16.3±1.2 years (ranged 13-20). CB was evaluated with 2nd Revision of the Revised Cyber Bullying Inventory (RCBI-II) and self-esteem was evaluated with Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Chi-square, logistic regression and Spearman correlation analyses were used to analyze the data. Results: The frequency of CB was 57.6% (n = 410). The frequency of CB was higher in men (OR:1.45,CI:1.01-2.1), the group who accept the friendship request of the people they don’t know in the virtual environment (OR:1.84,CI:1.22-2.78), who had problems with anyone on internet (OR:2.27,CI:1.54-3.35), who tells about something that can’t speak in real life (OR:2.13, CI:1.48-3.06), who share the problem orginated from online communication with anyone around (OR:1.48, CI:1.03-2.15). There was a positive weak correlation between the scores of the RCBI-II and RSES. Conclusions: CB is a common problem among high school students. There is a weak negative relationship between the level of CB and self-esteem. It may be useful to increase the awareness of students, parents and teachers on the subject and to provide psychological support to students to reduce the level of CB. Key messages: It is remarkable that the self-esteem of cyber-bullies is low. Risky behavior on the internet is an important risk factor for cyber bullying.