Developing a Bullying Scale for Use with University Students

Abstract

Bullying is not a new topic to be researched but the consequences of bullying for university students is an area yet to be studied. Thus, in this study our aim was to develop a bullying scale for use with university students. In order to do this we categorized their bullying behaviors as physical, verbal, emotional, and cyber; and their bullying status as bully, victim, bully-victim, and bystander. The survey we developed to validate our scale was completed by volunteer participants individually. Exploratory factor analysis was done to determine construct validity of the scale. The internal consistency values were calculated for reliability.The resultant values showed that the developed scale can be accepted as a valid and reliable scale to be used for measuring both bully and victim behaviors among young adults studying at tertiary level.The incidence of bullying is rising internationally and is considered an issue both inside and outside schools. Bullying has gained attention as it affects many individuals at varying ages in varied environments. This topic has been discussed extensively by a number of researchers in the fields of psychology and education (

The Peer Victimization in College Survey: Construction and validation.

“…The Dogruer and Yaratan Peer Victimization Scale (PVS; Dogruer & Yaratan, 2014) is a 23-item scale developed out of extant high-school and workplace measures but adapted for use with college students, using 5-point Likert scales ranging from never to always . A sample item is, “I am ridiculed in front of friends.” In the current study, coefficient alpha was .96.…”

“…Although college peer victimization has been the focus of numerous studies (e.g., Felix et al, 2019; Lento, 2006; Ramsey, DiLalla, & McCrary, 2016), no measure of peer victimization has ever been developed and validated specifically for use with college students. Peer victimization research on college students has relied on unpublished measures, scales developed for use with younger populations, workplace victimization measures adapted for use with college students, and ad hoc questionnaires that have not been empirically validated (e.g., Aquino & Bradfield, 2000; Coyne, Padilla-Walker, & Holmgren, 2018; Dogruer & Yaratan, 2014; Morales & Crick, 1998; Yu et al, 2018). To remedy this, we conducted four studies on the construction and validation of the first comprehensive measure of college student peer victimization, the Peer Victimization in College Survey (PVIC).…”

Impact Of Bullying Experiences On Preservice Teachers Studying At University

“…Specific examples of these types of bullying can be found in both children and adults (Dogruer & Yaratan, 2014). Physical bullying can include any range of physical violence; for instance, punching, pushing, tripping and kicking another, while verbal bullying is language-related, where the action deliberately hurts another; for instance, spreading a rumour or name-calling, mocking and intimidating another while targeting differences, perceived or real.…”

¿existe El Bullying en La Universidad? Aproximación a Esta Realidad Con Una Muestra Española De Estudiantes De Grado

“…Cada vez se va disponiendo de más información sobre lo que ocurre en la Universidad en un tema tan relevante como el acoso entre iguales y se van conociendo algunos resultados reveladores, tal y como constatan las investigaciones sobre este tema que indican que hay presencia de bullying entre los estudiantes en la enseñanza superior (Cowie y Myers, 2015;Perry y Blincoe, 2015;Doğruer y Yaratan, 2014;Sinkonen, Puhakka y Meniläinen, 2012;Coleyshaw, 2010). Así, el bullying no es un fenómeno exclusivo de los niveles educativos precedentes, y parece adquirir matices específicos en el ámbito de la educación superior (Prieto, Carrillo y Lucio, 2015; Romero y Plata, 2015), por lo que resulta importante contribuir a aportar datos sobre sus características.…”