Investigation of reactions to cyberbullying in online environments

The widespread use of the Internet and information communication technologies has changed the ways of communicating and socialising. With the increasing use of online environments and digital platforms, cyberbullying has become a social problem. Cyberbullying is defined as both a national and international problem. This study was conducted to examine the behavioural and emotional reactions of university students to cyberbullying according to variables. It was conducted with 497 students studying at Anadolu University in Eskişehir province in the academic year 2022-2023 Spring semester and 2023-2024 Autumn semester using the survey model. The "Scale of Reactions to Cyberbullying" was used as a data collection tool. In data analysis, Man Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis H tests were used, taking into account the normality distribution. As a result of the research, it was found that the sub-dimensions of the reactions given in the face of cyberbullying showed a significant difference according to gender and faculty variables, but did not show a significant difference in age and daily internet usage time variables. According to the gender variable, it was found that men had higher revenge scores, while women had higher prevention, avoidance and internalisation scores. According to the faculty variable, it was found that the internalisation scores of the Faculty of Educational Sciences and the Faculty of Health Sciences were higher than the other faculties.