Pattern and correlates of cyberbullying victimization among Egyptian university students in Beni-Suef, Egypt

The expansion of the online environment has unveiled many cyber risks and potentials for abuse such as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying carries many negative psychological impacts that affect mainly young people.

The objective of our study is to explore the of cyberbullying victimization among Egyptian university students in Beni-Suef and investigate factors correlating with it.

In this cross-sectional study, a multi-stage random sampling was used to include a total of 6740 students from all grade levels in all faculties (n=28) of Beni-Suef University. After 4 focus group discussions, a self-administered questionnaire was designed for data collection. The questionnaire comprised three sections including questions about selected socio-demographic characteristics, exposure to cyberbullying in the past 6 months, and factors associated with victimization.

Almost half of our students (48.2%) reported experiencing cyberbullying victimization in the past 6 months. Female students, students living in urban areas and those who spent more hours using the internet reported more exposure (p<0.001). Harassment was the main type stated by females (79.8%) while flaming was excessively reported by males (51.8%). Students responded mostly by anger (63.1%), hatred (23.2%) and sorrow (22.6%) towards the worst victimization incidents.

Cyberbullying victimization is highly prevalent amongst university students in Beni-Suef and female students are more vulnerable to exposure, Implementing anti-cyberbullying programs tailored for university students will be a major step. Such programs should include anti-cyberbullying policies and materials, and provision of guidance for students, their parents and their teaching staff.