Examining Cyberbullying and Digital Citizenship of High School Students

Year 2025, Volume: 33 Issue: 1, 146 - 157, 28.01.2025

Hacer Alakuş , İdris Göksu

https://doi.org/10.24106/kefdergi.1628433

Abstract

Purpose: This research aimed to determine the relationship between cyberbullying and digital citizenship of high school students. It also aims to reveal how cyberbullying and digital citizenship scores differ according to various sociodemographic variables and technology use.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The correlational survey model was used. The data for this study was collected in 2022 from 204 high school students (male = 103, female = 101) aged 13-18 from six schools in XXX city. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was calculated as .94 for cyberbullying and .79 for digital citizenship. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, t-test, and one-way ANOVA.
Findings: According to the results, it was determined that there was no statistically significant relationship between students' cyberbullying and digital citizenship. Additionally, students' cyberbullying scores do not differ according to gender. However, it was revealed that female students' digital citizenship scores were statistically significantly higher than males. It has been determined that the cyberbullying level of students with higher family income levels is also higher, and digital citizenship does not differ according to income level. In addition, it was found that the digital citizenship scores of high school students who use phones are significantly higher than those who do not. The cyberbullying scores of those who use Facebook are significantly lower than those who do not use Facebook. The digital citizenship scores of students who use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are significantly lower than those who do not. Finally, WhatsApp users' digital citizenship scores were significantly higher than those who did not use WhatsApp.
Highlights: There is no statistically significant relationship between digital citizenship and cyberbullying. Additionally, cyberbullying does not differ by gender. However, female students' digital citizenship scores were higher than males. Cyberbullying scores of students with high family income were higher than those with low family income. The cyberbullying score of students who use Facebook is higher than those who do not. Finally, it was determined that the digital citizenship scores of those who use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are lower than those who do not.

Keywords

Cyberbullying, Digital citizenship, Cyber victimization, Social media, High school students

Ethical Statement

Ethics Committee Approval Document of this research was provided by Mardin Artuklu University in 16.03.2022 by Ethics Committee with number 2022-3, 31.05.2022-49232.

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