International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

Few published studies measure electronic (cyber) bullying in conjunction with traditional (i.e., verbal, physical, and relational) forms of bullying, with even fewer using multiple items to measure the constructs. These two shortcomings have resulted in decades of inconsistent findings, uncertainty amongst experts about the structure of bullying, and no universally accepted measures to examine it. This study addresses these concerns by developing a new measure of victimization and examining its construct validity in a sample of 399 ninth-grade students. Exploratory Factor Analysis provides strong evidence that victimization is indeed multifaceted with cyber victimization emerging as a separate factor, distinct from school-based forms. Although, physical and verbal victimization items cross-loaded to form a single factor (labeled direct victimization), relational victimization emerged as a separate factor, distinct from cyber and direct victimization. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed, along with how continued development of such measures may aid educational psychologists who work with victimized students regularly.