mura, giulia università degli studi di milano-bicocca - faculty of education, Milano, Italy , topcu-uzer, çiğdem sinop university - faculty of education, Sinop, Turkey , erdur-baker, özgür middle east technical university - faculty of education, Ankara, Turkey , diamantini, davide università degli studi di milano-bicocca - faculty of education, Milano, Italy

A Cross-Country Perspective on Cyber Bullying: Italian and Turkish Experience

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The present study aimed to investigate how Italian and Turkish university students perceive cyber bullying. A total of 256 Italian (161 females, 95 males) and 122 Turkish (76 females, 44 males, 2 did not report gender) university students were recruited by convenience sampling. The ages of the participants ranged between 18 and 33 for both the Italian sample (M = 20.9; SD = 1.92) and the Turkish sample (M = 22.77; SD = 2.47). Data were collected via a questionnaire which included two vignettes depicting different cyber bullying episodes (one web-site and one mobile phone episode) and follow-up questions. Results indicated that cyber bullying appears to be widespread among both samples. Although the respondents from the two countries share similar perceptions of cyber bullying, discrepancies exist in how Turkish and Italian university students perceive what a cyber bullying incidence is, and who is called the cyber bully and the cyber victim. Researchers and practitioners need to be aware of the unique needs of university students from different countries while planning prevention programs for cyber bullying.

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Cyber bullying , university students , cross , country , Italy , Turkey

Mersin University Journal Of The Faculty Of Education

93