Cyberbullying trough Mobile Phone and the Internet in Dating Relationships among Youth People

Abstract

Cyberbullying is a phenomenon that has been extensively analysed amongst adolescents. However, in Spain, there have been few studies of young adults and particularly of their romantic relationships in the digital context. This study analyses cyberbullying in romantic relationships in mobile and digital exchanges between partners, in a sample comprising 336 students using quantitative methodology. The results show that 57,2% of the sample admit to having been victimised by their partner by mobile phone and 27,4% via the Internet. The percentage of victimised males was higher than that of females. 47,6% affirmed that they had bullied their partner by mobile phone and 14% over the Internet. The percentage of males who did so was higher than that of females. The regression analyses showed correlation between having been victimised by a partner via one of these media and having experienced cyberbulling in other by means of the same technological medium. The effects of this interaction highlight that males victimised through the use of mobile phones or the Internet are involved, to a greater extent than victimised females, as the perpetrators in this phenomenon. The results suggest modernisation in the types of violence that young adults experience in their relationships..