Under Construction @ Keele 2017 Under Construction @ Keele Vol. III (3) | Page 28

cyberbullying at least once in their lifetime. 32,33 Even though bullying does seem to
decrease at each new level of the educational system, it unfortunately still happens
at this higher level. The statistics may not accurately reflect prevalence rates due to
definitional differences, but there are still worrying figures: 5% (147) of one sample of
Finnish undergraduates indicated they had experienced bullying at university. 34
Similarly, 20% (104) of an Australian undergraduate sample indicated experiencing
traditional bullying within the past 12 months. 35
Further still, in most HE studies, students have indicated seeing others being
bullied at higher rates than self-admissions; it is likely that some students do not wish
to admit to being bullied themselves. Over half of one sample knew somebody that
had experienced HE bullying, 36 and in Chapell’s large sample, 34% (342) of students
saw a student bully another student, whereas 19% (190) reported being bullied
themselves. 37 It may not be the most prioritised issue on campus, for the apparent
low rates, yet we can see that bullying affects more than just a handful of cases: a
considerable minority of students have experienced, and are experiencing,
victimisation at university, which can have negative academic and psychological
consequences for the individuals involved.
Consequences
Like other populations, HE students experience similar individual effects after having
been bullied. Victims who were verbally and relationally victimised before and during
college had significantly lower scores on general wellbeing measures than non-
bullied peers. 38 Similarly, young adults in an interview study said they felt judged,
and compared this to the ostracism they felt in school. 39 Those who indicated
themselves as cyber victims also seemed to endure negative psychological effects –
Crosslin and Golman, “‘Maybe You Don’t Want to Face it’.”
Dean West, “An Investigation into the Prevalence of Cyberbullying Among Students Aged 16–19 in
Post-Compulsory Education,” Research in Post-Compulsory Education 20 (1) (2015): 96-112.
34
Sinkkonen, Puhakka and Meriläinen, “Bullying at a University.”
35
Wensley and Campbell, “Heterosexual and Non-Heterosexual Young University Students'
Involvement.”
36
Walker, Sockman and Koehn, “An Exploratory Study of Cyberbullying.”
37
Chapell et al., “Bullying in College,” 53.
38
Yu-Ying Chen and Jiun-Hau Huang, “Precollege and In-College Bullying Experiences and Health-
Related Quality of Life Among College Students,” Pediatrics 135 (1) (2015): 18-25.
39
Brock et al., “‘Mean Girls’ Go to College,” 516.
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