Under Construction @ Keele 2017 Under Construction @ Keele Vol. III (3) | Page 29

Dean West found a lengthy list of negative outcomes, with feeling angry, hurt, sad,
depressed, embarrassed, and anxious, as the most prevalent. 40 Cyber victims are
also found to experience higher levels of depression, anxiety, paranoia, and suicidal
ideation/attempts, 41 and Carol Walker again found evidence for students feeling
angry, sad, and hurt, when victimised online. 42
Another prominent effect is disrupted academic attainment. Young adult cyber
victims, for instance, have disrupted learning and attendance. 43,44 Young-Jones and
Sinkkonen found that current victims had lower autonomy and competence and
lower academic motivation, which could eventually lead to disengagement, poor
performance, or drop out, as often happens amongst victims of sexual, verbal, and
physical violence on campus. 45,46,47
Lastly, there are university-wide consequences of bullying behaviour. Chapell
found that a behavioural effect of student bullying was more bullying – the author
concluded that students who experience a climate of violence, are more likely to be
violent themselves. 48 Jacqueline Douglas et al. surveyed 350 students from two UK
universities asking what determinants made a valuable or hindering university
experience; 49 one critical theme noted was that of fellow student behaviour. Not only
can bullying negatively impact individuals, but it may also influence the quality of the
university climate, leading to student dissatisfaction, which in turn reflects negatively
on the institution, indirectly displayed through surveys monitoring the student
experience (for example, The National Student Survey in the UK).
West, “An Investigation into the Prevalence of Cyberbullying.”
Alison Schenk & William Fremouw, “Prevalence, Psychological Impact, and Coping of Cyberbully
Victims Among College Students,” Journal of School Violence 11 (1) (2012): 21-37.
42
Walker, Sockman and Koehn, “An Exploratory Study of Cyberbullying.”
43
Chen and Huang, “Precollege and In-College Bullying Experiences.”
44
Brock et al., “‘Mean Girls’ Go to College,” 516.
45
Young-Jones et al., “Bullying Affects More Than Feelings.”
46
Sinkkonen, Puhakka and Meriläinen, “Bullying at a University.”
47
Cecelia Mengo and Beverly Black, “Violence Victimization on a College Campus: Impact on GPA
and School Dropout,” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice 18 (2)
(2016): 234-248.
48
Chapell et al., “Bullying in College,” 53.
49
Jaqueline Douglas et al., “Understanding Student Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction: An Interpretive
Study in the UK Higher Education Context,” Studies In Higher Education 40 (2) (2015): 329-349.
40
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