Investigation of cyber bullying/victimization levels of university students playing online games and investigation of their relationship with empathy

The concepts of cyber victimization and bullying are concepts that have started to take more place in our lives with the developing technology and scientific innovations. Especially the prevalence of the online environment and the raise in the use of social media increase the negative effects of the cyber world on the mental health of the individual. In particular, the concept of empathy is negatively affected by these technological developments and online socialization. The aim of the study is to investigate the cyberbullying/victimization levels of university students who play online games and to examine its relationship with empathy. Sociodemographic information form, Cyberbullying Scale for University Students and Empathic Tendency Scale were included in the questionnaire prepared for this purpose. A total of 400 university students, 120 women and 280 men, participated in the study. In the findings, it was seen that the empathic tendency of female students was high. In addition, the cyberbullying/victimization and empathy score averages of the participants differ significantly according to the variables of age, financial situation, parent education, parental union, number of siblings, place of residence, computer presence, internet usage environment, purpose of internet use, duration of internet use and types of games played. While there was a negative relationship between cyberbullying and victimization and empathy, the variables of cyberbullying and age were found to be significant parameters in predicting the empathy score. The findings have provided up-to-date information to the literature, especially in understanding the concepts of cyberbullying/victimization seen in young individuals, and in shedding light on the negative situations that can be observed in university students.