Online Harassment and Cyberbullying Victimization and Its Emotional Impacts among Female Nursing and Non-Nursing Students

Hanan Elzeblawy Hassan^1, , Eman Ali Abd El Moaty Sheha², Wafaa Mostafa Ahmed Gamel³ and Ahmed Emad Eldin Arafa⁴

¹Maternal and Newborn Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Beni-Suef University, Egypt

²Lecturer of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing-Fayoum University, Egypt

³Lecturer of Maternal and Neonatal Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Fayoum University, Egypt

⁴Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Egypt

Cite this paper:
Hanan Elzeblawy Hassan, Eman Ali Abd El Moaty Sheha, Wafaa Mostafa Ahmed Gamel and Ahmed Emad Eldin Arafa. Online Harassment and Cyberbullying Victimization and Its Emotional Impacts among Female Nursing and Non-Nursing Students. American Journal of Nursing Research. 2019; 7(2):102-108. doi: 10.12691/ajnr-7-2-1

Abstract

Background: The increasing internet utilization is associated with various disadvantages. Online cyberbullying and harassment victimization is one of these disadvantages that pose negative emotional consequences. Aim: This study aimed to detect the prevalence of online cyberbullying and harassment victimization amongst nursing students from El-Fayoum University in comparison to students from other faculties at the same university. In addition to figuring out the most significant correlates of victimization and its emotional consequences. Subjects and methods: A total of 308 female nursing students and 320 female non-nursing students from El-Fayoum University participated in this cross-sectional survey. For data collection, §Ñ self-administered questionnaire was designed and distributed. The questionnaire included 3 sections; personal characters of the included students, online cyberbullying and harassment victimization during the past year, and the emotional consequences of victimization. Results: Of the surveyed female university students, 84 (27.3%) of the nursing students and 88 (27.5%) of the non-nursing students stated online harassment victimization during the past year, with no statistically significant differences between both groups (§²>0.05). Almost two-thirds of the victimized students from nursing and non-nursing faculties reported online harassment, victimization more than once with no statistically significant differences between both groups (§²>0.05). Urban residence and more hours of internet use per day did not correlate with the prevalence of online harassment victimization (§²>0.05) but associated with frequent exposure (§²<0.05). Anger (74.4%) was the most commonly reported emotional impact of online harassment victimization. Hatred, fear, sorrow, loneliness, and disappointment came next, however, with considerably lower rates. Conclusion: Female university students from nursing and non-nursing faculties were exposed to online cyberbullying and harassment victimization in recognizable rates. Recommendations: Further studies on the coping techniques to online harassment victimization should be conducted. Interventional programs to increase awareness regarding the windows of interference against online harassment according to the Egyptian Penal Code to reduce such intrusions and minimize their emotional effects should be considered.

Keywords:
online harassment cyberbullying victimization nursing students young females

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Subrahmanyam K., ?mahel D. The Darker sides of the internet: violence, cyber bullying, and victimization, Digital Youth, Springer New York. 2011: 179-99.
[2]	Amichai-Hamburger Y., Hayat Z. The impact of the Internet on the social lives of users: A representative sample from 13 countries. Comput Hum Behav, 2011; 27(1): 585-9.
[3]	Tokunaga RS. Following you home from school: a critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization. Comput Hum Behav, 2010; 26: 277-87.
[4]	Magnavita N., Heponiemi T. Workplace violence against nursing students and nurses: An Italian experience. J Nurs Scholarsh, 2011; 43(2): 203-10.
[5]	Finn J. A survey of online harassment at a university campus. Journal of interpersonal violence, 2004; 19: 168-83.
[6]	Arsenio W. & Lemerise E. Aggression and Moral Development: Integrating Social Information Processing and Moral domain models. Child Development, 2004; 75(4): 987-1002.
[7]	Raskauskas J. & Stoltz A. Involvement in Traditional and Electronic Bullying among Adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 2007; 43 (3): 564-575.
[8]	Slonje R. Smith P. Cyberbullying: Another main Type of Bullying? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 2008; 49 (2):147-154.
[9]	Aluede O. Adeleke F. Onoike D. & Afen-Akpaida J. A Review of the Extent, Nature, Characteristics and Effects of Bulling Behaviour in Schools. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 2008; 35(2): 151-158
[10]	Snakenborg J. Van Acker R. & Gable R. Cyberbullying: Prevention & Intervention to Protect our Children & Youth. Preventing School Failure, 2011; 55(2): 88-95.
[11]	Navarro R., Yubero S., Larra?aga E. Cyberbullying Across the Globe: Gender, Family, and Mental Health. Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016.
[12]	Juvonen J., Gross EF. Extending the school grounds? Bullying experiences in cyberspace. J School Health, 2008; 78 (9): 496-505.
[13]	Safaria T. Prevalence and impact of cyberbullying in a sample of Indonesian junior high school students. Turk Online J Edu Tech, 2016; 15 (1): 82-91.
[14]	Vilic V. Stalking and sexual harassment on the internet. Law and politics, 2013; 11(1):39-48.
[15]	Gradinger P., Strohmeier D., Spiel C. Traditional bullying, and cyberbullying: identification of risk groups for adjustment problems. Journal of Psychology, 2009; 217(4): 205-13.
[16]	Houle JN., Staff J., Mortimer JT., Uggen C., Blackstone A. The impact of sexual harassment of depressive symptoms during the early occupational career. Soc Ment Health, 2011; 1(2): 89-105.
[17]	Patchin JW., Hinduja S. Bullies move beyond the schoolyard: a preliminary look at cyberbullying. Youth Violence Juv Justice, 2006; 4(2): 148-69.
[18]	Shariff S. Cyber-Bullying: Issues and Solutions for the School, the Classroom and the Home. Canada: Routledge. 2008.
[19]	Dooley J., Pyzalski J. and Cross D. Cyberbullying versus face-to-face bullying: a theoretical and conceptual review," Journal of Psychology, 2009; 217(4): 182-188.
[20]	Li Q. New bottle but old wine: a research of cyberbullying in schools. Computers in Human Behavior, 2007; 23 (4): 1777-1791.
[21]	Dempsey A. Sulkowski M. Nichols R. and Storch E. Differences Between Peer Victimization in Cyber and Physical Settings and Associated Psychosocial Adjustment in Early Adolescence. Psychology in the Schools, 2009; 46 (10): 962-972.
[22]	Kowalski R. and Limber S. Electronic Bullying Among Middle School Students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2007; 41 (6, Suppl.): S22-S30.
[23]	Ybarra M., Mitchell K. Wolak J. and Finkelhor D. Examining Characteristics and Associated Distress Related to Internet Harassment: Findings from the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey. Pediatrics, 2006;118 (4): e1169-e1177.
[24]	The Egyptian Penal Code promulgated by Law No. 58 of 1937, 2018.
[25]	ICT Indicators in Brief, September 2016 | Monthly Issue. Available at www.egyptictindicators.gov.eg.
[26]	eMarketing Egypt Online Competitiveness Intelligence report 2015. Available at http://www.dmc.ae/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ArabSocialMediaReport-2015.pdf.
[27]	https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/harassment. ? Cambridge University Press)
[28]	Vitak J., Chadha K., Steiner L., and Ashktorab Z. Identifying Women's Experiences With and Strategies for Mitigating Negative Effects of Online Harassment, CSCW '17, February 25-March 01, 2017, Portland, OR, USA, available at: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2998337.
[29]	Saleh M. The role of online and social media in combating sexual harassment in Egypt, American University in Cairo. Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communication, 2018; available at: http://dar.aucegypt.edu/handle/10526/5348
[30]	Vaillancourt T. Faris R. Mishna F.?Cyberbullying in children and youth: implications for health and clinical practice.?Can J Psychiatry, 2017; 62(6): 368-373.
[31]	Scott E. Dale J. Russell R. et al.?Young people who are being bullied¡ªdo they want general practice support??BMC Fam Pract., 2016; 17:1-9.
[32]	Agatston P. Kowalski R. & Limber S. Students perspectives on cyber bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2007; 41(6): S59-S60.
[33]	Smith J. Schneider B. Smith P. & Ananiadou K. The effectiveness of whole school ant bullying programs: A synthesis of evaluation research. School Psychology Review, 2004; 23(4): 547-560.
[34]	Kraft1 E. Wang j. Effectiveness of Cyber Bullying Prevention Strategies: A Study on Students' Perspectives. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 2009; 3 (2): 513-535
[35]	Campbell M. Cyber bullying: An old problem in a new guise. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 2006; 15(1): 68-76.
[36]	Berson I. Berson M. & Ferron, J. Emerging risk of violence in the digital age: Lessons for educators from an online study of adolescent girls in the United States. Journal of School Violence, 2002; 1(2): 51-71.
[37]	Kowalski RM., Limber SP. Psychological, physical, and academic correlates of cyberbullying and traditional bullying. J Adolesc Health, 2013; 53: 13-20.
[38]	Lindfors PL., Kaltiala-Heino R., Rimpel? AH. Cyberbullying among Finnish adolescents: a population-based study. BMC Public Health, 2012; 12:1027.
[39]	Ojanen TT., Boonmongkon P., Smakkeekarom R., Samoh N., Cholratana M., Econ B., et al. Connections between online harassment and offline violence among youth in Central Thailand. Child Abuse Negl., 2015; 44: 159-69.
[40]	Olweus D. School bullying: Development and some important challenges. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 2013; 9: 751-80.
[41]	Kowalski RM., Limber SP., Agatston PW. Cyberbullying: Bullying in the digital age. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell; 2012.
[42]	Duggan M. Online harassment. Pew Internet Project, 2014; Washington, D.C. Retrieved September 29, 2018 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/10/22/online-harassment/.
[43]	Elhawary S. Violence against women in Egypt CAPMAS, Egypt, 2009. Available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/meetings/vaw/docs/Paper2.pdf.
[44]	Ebaid N. Sexual harassment in Egypt: a neglected crime, an assessment for the Egyptian Government performance in regard to the sexual harassment in Egypt, 2013. Available at (http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/content/pdf/participant-papers/2013-05-iscd-hr/Neama_Ebaid.pdf.
[45]	Bridges A., Wosnitzer R. Aggression and sexual behaviour in best-selling pornography: A content analysis update. International Communication Association 2007. http://stoppornculture.org/about/about-the-issue/ facts-and-figures-2.
[46]	Sticca F., Ruggieri S., Alsaker F., Perren S. Longitudinal risk Factors for cyberbullying in adolescence. J of Comm & ApplSocl Psych., 2013; 23(1): 52-67.
[47]	Nada KH., Suliman DA. Violence, abuse, alcohol and drug use, and sexual behaviours in street children of Greater Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt. AIDS, 2010; 24(2): 39-44.
[48]	Survey of young people in Egypt Final Report Population Council West Asia and North Africa Office. http://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2010PGY_SYPEFinalReport.pdf.
[49]	Laws against sexual harassment in Egypt. http://harassmap.org/en/law-text-on-sexual-harassment.
[50]	Fanti KA., Demetriou AG., Hawa VV. A longitudinal study of cyberbullying: examining risk and protective factors. Eur J Dev Psychol., 2012; 9(2): 168-81.
[51]	Haynie DL., Nansel T., Eitel P., Crump AD., Saylor K., Yu K. Bullies, victims, and bully/victims: Distinct groups of at-risk youth. J Early Adolesc., 2001; 21(1): 29-49.
[52]	Smith PK., Mahdavi J., Carvalho M., Fisher S., Russell S., Tippett N. Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary pupils. J Child Psycho and Psychi., 2008; 49(4): 376-85.
[53]	Saied SM., Elsabagh HM., El-Afandy AM. Internet and facebook addiction among Egyptian and Malaysian medical students: a comparative study, Tanta University, Egypt. Int J Community Med Public Health, 2016; 3: 1288-97.
[54]	Arafa AE, Mahmoud OE, Senosy SA. The emotional impacts of different forms of cyberbullying victimization in Egyptian university students. Egypt. J. Med. Sci., 2015; 36 (2): 867-80.
[55]	Hinduja S., Patchin JW. Offline consequences of online victimization: school violence and delinquency. J Sch Violence. 2007; 6(3): 89-112.
[56]	Hensler-Mcginnis N. Cyberstalking Victimization: Impact And Coping Responses In A National University Sample, 2008; available at: https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/8206.
[57]	Suhaila O., Rampal KG. Prevalence of Sexual Harassment and its Associated Factors among Registered Nurses Working in Government Hospitals, Med J Malaysia, 2012; 67(5).