The Impact of Cyberbullying on Adolescents' Sense of Psychological Loneliness

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the degree of the spread of electronic bullying among adolescents, and to determine the degree of adolescents' sense of psychological loneliness, in addition to identifying the relationship between the level of electronic bullying and adolescents' sense of psychological loneliness. The dimensions are: (electronic invisibility, electronic harassment, electronic slander, and cyberstalking), as the researcher prepared a scale of psychological loneliness, and the scale consisted of (31) phrases, half of which were positive phrases and the other half were negative phrases, and the study sample consisted of (269) adolescents who They were subjected to cyber-bullying, and the study found the degree of prevalence of cyber-bullying among adolescents from their point of view, which came with a mean of (3.95), a standard deviation of (1.09) and a significant degree of appreciation. The dimension of electronic harassment came in the first place with a mean of (4.15). In the second place after electronic stalking, with a mean of (3.97), and came in third place after electronic slander, with a mean of (3.87). Then it came after electronic invisibility with an average of (3.83) in the fourth place, and the study also found that the degree of adolescents' sense of psychological loneliness through the expressions of the scale of sense of psychological loneliness as a whole came with an arithmetic mean (2.85) and a standard deviation (0.937) and a degree of medium approval, and the study recommended the need to do Multivariate longitudinal studies were conducted to determine the factors that predict cyberbullying, which can guide the design of preventive programs. It also recommended the necessity of societal dealing with the phenomenon of cyberbullying and limiting it, through the consolidation of the concepts of digital education, information awareness and virtual identity among adolescents and their families, and parents' awareness of all activities that Their children practice it on the Internet and social media, and develop counseling programs in schools and the media to educate adolescents about strategies to counter cyberbullying to improve their decision-making ability.