Social media addiction, cyberbullying and cyber victimization of university students

The study was conducted descriptively to determine the social media addiction, cyberbullying (CB) and cyber victimization (CV) of health sciences faculty students.

518 students who volunteered to participate in the study from among the students studying in the faculty of health sciences. The personal information form prepared by the researcher, the Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS), and the Cyber Victim and Bullying Scale (CVBS) were used to collect the data. To analyze data number (n), percentage (%), mean, median and standard deviation (SD), Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test and spearman correlation analysis were used.

As a result of the study, it was determined that the SMAS scores of female students and the CB and CV scores of male students were statistically significantly higher. It was found that the mean scores of CV of the students with low academic achievement, and the mean scores of CB and CV of the students with separated parents were higher compared to other groups. In the study, it was determined that the mean scores of SMAS and CV of the students who reported their upbringing style as inconsistent and unbalanced, and the mean scores of SMAS of the students who indicated their personality trait as aggressive were significantly higher compared to other groups.

In accordance with these results, it is important to identify the students who may be at risk and to raise awareness about addiction and the risks that may be encountered in the virtual environment.