Psychological consequences of cyber bullying experiences among Turkish secondary school children


ERDUR BAKER Ö., Tanrikulu I.

2nd World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES-2010), İstanbul, Turkey, 4 - 08 February 2010, vol.2, pp.2771-2776 identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • Volume: 2
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.413
  • City: İstanbul
  • Country: Turkey
  • Page Numbers: pp.2771-2776
  • Keywords: Cyber bullying, secondary school children, age and gender, depressive symptoms
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relations of cyber bullying experiences of Turkish secondary school children (as a victim and bully) to demographic variables (age and gender) and depressive symptoms. The participants were 165 secondary school students (94 females and 71 males) whose ages ranged from 10 to 14. According to the results, there is a significant interaction effect between age and gender on cyber bullying experiences, but they are not related to being a cyber victim. In other words, while school children's age and gender are related to being a cyber bully, school children may have the potential to be a cyber victim regardless of their age and gender. Moreover, the results revealed that the students who reported to being cyber victim indicate higher level of depressive symptoms. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.