College Students' Perceptions of Professor/Instructor Bullying: Questionnaire Development and Psychometric Properties

Abstract

Objective This study developed and examined the psychometric properties of a newly formed measure designed to assess professor/instructor bullying, as well as teacher bullying occurring prior to college. Additionally, prevalence of instructor bullying and characteristics related to victims of instructor bullying were examined. Participants Participants were 337 college students recruited in 2012 from a northeastern university. Methods An online questionnaire was administered to college students. A split-half, cross-validation approach was employed for measurement development. Results The measure demonstrated strong criterion validity and internal consistency. Approximately half of students reported witnessing professor/instructor bullying and 18% reported being bullied by a professor/instructor. Report of teacher bullying occurring prior to college was related to professor/instructor bullying in college, and sex was a moderating variable. Conclusion College students perceive instructor bullying as occurring but may not know how to properly address it. Prevention efforts should be made by university administrators, faculty and staff.

Bullying in university between peers and by personnel: cultural variation in prevalence, forms, and gender differences in four countries

“…In the study by Chapell et al (2004) among 1025 undergraduate students in a U.S. university, the number of students who reported having been bullied by a college teacher occasionally was 4.2%, and very frequently by only 0.5% of the students. Quite similarly, Marraccini et al (2015) found that of the 337 students recruited from a U.S. college, 3.1% reported having been bullied by a teacher/researcher occasionally and 0.9% very frequently. In a study conducted among 5698 higher education students in Finland, students also reported less bullying from teaching/research personnel than from their fellow students (Lavikainen 2010).…”

“…Occurrence rates of students' experiences of being bullied by university personnel are not commonly reported, however, studies from the USA, Finland, and the United Kingdom indicate this kind of bullying exists (Chapell et al 2004;Cooper et al 2011;Lavikainen 2010;Marraccini et al 2015;NUS 2008;Sinkkonen et al 2014). In the study by Chapell et al (2004) among 1025 undergraduate students in a U.S. university, the number of students who reported having been bullied by a college teacher occasionally was 4.2%, and very frequently by only 0.5% of the students.…”

“…Although bullying has been widely recognized as a serious issue in elementary and secondary school (e.g., Craig et al 2009;Currie et al 2012;Nansel et al 2001) and in the workplace (e.g., Keashly and Harvey 2005), and its long-term consequences on the psychosocial functioning, academic motivation and study ability of individuals have been found to reach from school year experiences even to higher education (e.g., Espelage et al 2016;Holt et al 2014;Pörhölä et al 2019;Young-Jones et al 2015), relatively little research has examined the prevalence and forms of bullying victimization and perpetration at the university level (Lund and Ross 2016). However, existing studies clearly indicate that bullying does occur among higher education students, and occurrence rates vary substantially between individual studies (Cowie et al 2013;Lund and Ross 2016;Marraccini et al 2015). Although the level of cyberbullying seems to be increasing among university students, traditional forms (i.e., verbal, relational, physical) of peer bullying are still more commonly reported (Cowie et al 2013;Lund and Ross 2016;Matsunaga 2010;Wensley and Campbell 2012).…”

“…Students do not experience bullying victimization only by their fellow students but also by university personnel (Chapell et al 2004;Marraccini et al 2015;NUS 2008;Sinkkonen et al 2014). This kind of bullying, however, has received very little attention so far.…”

Harassment and Bullying among Students in Higher Education Institutions: Manifestation of Single Cases of Harassment and Bullying in Aspects of Demographic Variables

“…However, recently, with emphasis that bullying does not disappear with humans' age, there is more and more interest in bullying existence in higher education, by recognizing it as a sensitive and still unsolved problem (Kyriacou, Mylonakou-Keke and Stephens, 2016). In this context, though recognizing the lack of researches (Lund and Ross, 2016), bullying is examined by analysing both the relationship between lecturers and students, and employees' relationship, and analysing the relationship between students (Marraccini, Weyandt and Rossi, 2015;Perry and Blincoe, 2015;Sinkkonen, Puhakka and Meriläinen, 2014;Serinkan et al, 2013;etc.). These researches can be performed by using different measures, such as questionnaires, interviews, diaries, observations that rely on different informants (Van Noorden et al, 2015).…”