INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES (IJHSS)
Relationships between Cyberbullying Techniques and Psychological Wellbeing of Adolescents in Secondary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya
E-ISSN: 3435-6457
P-ISSN: 8654-3552
DOI: https://iigdpublishers.com/article/1674
Cyberbullying has become a global social health issue in the past ten years. An estimated 20 to 40 percent of all teenagers will be victims of cyberbullying at some point. Although the phenomenon has no currently accepted definition and is still in its early stage, adolescents exhibit emotional instability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between cyberbullying techniques and the psychological well-being of adolescents in secondary schools. The study applied the Ex-Post-Facto and Survey designs. Ex-Post -Facto design was used to model the study since cyberbullying had already occurred and it was not possible to control its effects on the dependent variable (psychological wellbeing). Survey was used to describe the relationship between cyberbullying techniques and the psychological wellbeing of the adolescents in details. The target population consisted of all adolescents between 13-18 years from five selected schools in Nairobi County from whom a sample of 318 participants were drawn. Out of the five selected secondary schools, the researcher used 5 school principals, and 5 teacher counselors. The research instruments consisted of a modified Cyberbullying Questionnaire by Batool, Yousaf and Batool (2017), an interview schedules for school Principals and Teacher Counselors and a Focus Discussion Guide for key informants. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25 and presented using frequency tables and percentages. The study found that, there was statistically significant relationship between cyberbullying by social networking sites and by text messaging (r (316) = .469**. p ˃ - .087). The results showed that, cyberbullying or witnessing someone being cyber bullied through social networking sites and text messaging decreased the adolescents’ psychological wellness. The study recommended that, the school principals should employ intensive monitoring and control of the sites the adolescents is visiting in order to safeguard them from psychological problems and maintain their mental health.
Nuna, R. M., Ngumi O. & Macharia S.
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