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Gender Variables and Cyberbullying in College Students

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Cyberbullying Across the Globe

Abstract

Studies analyzing experiences of cyberbullying among college students have been scarcer than those analyzing cyberbullying among preadolescents and adolescents. However, research has shown that college students face similar problems in their online interactions as students in primary and secondary schools. The prevalence of cyberbullying among college students ranges from 8 to 21 % and may include receiving threatening text messages, sexually harassing messages, spreading rumors, and faking someoneʼs identity. In this chapter, we review cyberbullying research conducted with college students from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. The quantitative perspective includes an examination of the prevalence rates of cyberbullying, focusing on gender differences in involvement, and an analysis of the studies examining cross-sex cyberbullying, risk factors associated with cyberbullying roles, and the correlates of these behaviors. Second, the qualitative perspective tries to present how college students perceive and define this phenomenon, to what extent they consider it is a problem present in their academic and social environment, their view on the characteristics of people involved in those dynamics, and the differences they found with cyberbullying in primary and secondary schools.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Work, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Camino del Pozuelo s/n., 16071, Cuenca, Spain

    Elisa Larrañaga

  2. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Humanities, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 16071, Cuenca, Spain

    Santiago Yubero

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Anastasio Ovejero

Authors
  1. Elisa Larrañaga
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  2. Santiago Yubero
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  3. Anastasio Ovejero
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Correspondence to Elisa Larrañaga .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain

    Raúl Navarro

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain

    Santiago Yubero

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain

    Elisa Larrañaga

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Larrañaga, E., Yubero, S., Ovejero, A. (2016). Gender Variables and Cyberbullying in College Students. In: Navarro, R., Yubero, S., Larrañaga, E. (eds) Cyberbullying Across the Globe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25552-1_3

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