Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Rehabilitation Counseling

First Advisor

Roy K. Chen

Second Advisor

Kim L. Nguyen-Finn

Third Advisor

Barbara Schoen

Abstract

According to the CDC (2024), bullying can lead to social and emotional distress, self-harm, and death. Bullying can also increase the risk for depression, anxiety, and poor academic achievement. The increased use of social media and the rise in cyberbullying (CB) and related mental health concerns among emerging adults is highly disconcerting, especially given their propensity for mental health problems. The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of young university students’ perceptions about CB victimization and whether CB affects their mental health. A cross-sectional research design was used to conduct the study. In this study the number of participants reported for gender were 104 (males) and 131 (females). Inferential statistics used in this study was frequency analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis. One CB scale and two mental health scales (i.e., depression and anxiety) were used. Descriptive statistics were used to find the mean and standard deviation of the demographics (i.e., gender identity, age, disability, discipline enrolled, race/ethnicity, level of social media use, and which social media sites they use). The result indicates that the majority of variance in cyberbullying victimization scores was attributable to individual differences rather than academic major grouping. Cyberbullying victimization, gender, and major discipline were significant predictors of depression in the final model. While cyberbullying victimization, gender, major discipline and race/ethnicity were significant predictors of anxiety in the final model There were some limitations regarding race/ethnicities and a low rate of self-reported of PWD. However, findings indicated young adults are affected by CB victimization which affect their mental health (i.e., depression and anxiety) and further research needs to be conducted specifically in young adults in the United States, people with disabilities, among different university disciplines with an equal sample size or one specific discipline, and people of color.

Comments

Copyright 2025 Brandi N. Cruz. All Rights Reserved. https://proquest.com/docview/3290569452

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