Cyberbullying victimization in higher education: An exploratory analysis of its association with social and emotional factors among Spanish students

Few studies have analyzed cyberbullying victimization among university students in comparison to research conducted in other educational levels. The main purpose was to analyze the associations between the cyberbullying victimization and social and emotional factors such as involvement in traditional bullying victimization and perpetration, loneliness, self-esteem and perceived acceptance by friends. The results from a sample of 243 university students from social sciences confirmed the presence of cyberbullying victimization in the university context. Logistic regression revealed that perceived acceptance by peers was found to be significantly associated with cyberbullying victimization, such that those with low perceived acceptance were most likely to report experience of cyberbullying. Involvement in traditional bullying victimization during previous educational levels was also a risk factor for cyberbullying victimization, such that as involvement in traditional victimization increase, likelihood of cyberbullying victimization increases. Research and practice implications are discussed.