Latent profiles of cyberbullying among university students and its relationship with social anxiety and aggressiveness

Abstract

Cyberbullying has generated interest for researchers in the field of psychology and education in recent years. While most studies have focused on samples of adolescents, the university environment also deserves special attention due to its serious consequences on students. It is therefore very important to prevent cyberbullying in the context of university. The objectives of this study were to identify different profiles regarding cyberbullying and cybervictimization behaviors and examine the relationship between cyberbullying, social anxiety, and aggressiveness. A total of 1,368 university students participated in the study by completing the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (EBIPQ), the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults (CASO-A30), and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ). The latent profile analysis identified three cyberbullying profiles: a first group with low scores in cyberaggression and cybervictimization (not involved; 87.6%), a second group with moderately high scores in cyberaggression and cybervictimization (victimized cyberbullies; 10%), and a third group with high scores in cybervictimization and very high scores in cyberaggression (cyberbullies; 2.4%). The profile of “victimized cyberbullies” students presents higher scores in physical, verbal, anger, and hostility than the group of “not involved” students, while no differences in social anxiety were found between the groups analysed. Cyberbullying preventive programs should focus on the management of aggressive behaviors for those who have moderate scores in cybervictimization and cyberbullying behaviors, and social anxiety may not be differentiated between cyberbullying groups at this academic stage.