Cyberbullying During COVID-19 Pandemic: Relation to Perceived Social Isolation Among College and University Students

Abstract

One tell-tale sign of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is the heavy reliance on electronic devices. Young adults in particular have indicated a greater presence on social media and high levels of loneliness during the pandemic. This trend has raised concerns about increased feelings of social isolation and reliance on technology, which could lead to more internet or computer crimes—including cyberbullying. Despite a growing body of literature, little is known about the association between cyberbullying and social isolation among young adults— with even less known about this phenomenon in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the current study aims to raise awareness about cyberbullying in postsecondary education during the pandemic by highlighting the severity of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young adults. Drawing on survey responses from 331 current college and university students residing in the United States, this study explored the relationship between perceived social isolation, reliance on electronic devices, and cyberbullying before and during the pandemic. Specifically, it evaluated the hypothesis that increased perceived social isolation and interaction in cyberspace have increased the prevalence of cyberbullying among young adults. Using t-tests and linear regression analysis, the differences between cyberbullying experiences before (prior to March 2020) and during the pandemic (from March 2020 onwards), as well as the relationship between perceived social isolation, social media, and cyberbullying experiences, were examined. The findings of the study suggest that 1) the majority of participants felt more isolated, with most of the sample reporting increased social media use as a consequence of the pandemic; 2) cyberbullying victimization significantly decreased during the pandemic, whereas there was no significant change for cyberbullying perpetration. One explanation might be that individuals increasingly engaged in safer online behavior or experienced a lack of motivation for perpetration during the pandemic; 3) social media use was not important in predicting cyberbullying during the pandemic; and 4) perceived social isolation was moderately predictive of cyberbullying experiences during the pandemic when pre-pandemic experiences were omitted from the analysis. While the applied sampling method raises concerns about the study’s generalizability, the findings have important implications for developing age-specific intervention and prevention strategies of interest to counseling services, health researchers, and practitioners in college and university settings. In addition to underlining that colleges and universities should be vigilant in terms of increased perceived social isolation and cyberbullying experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, these findings also illustrate the need for continued research on cyberbullying throughout the pandemic. Ongoing research on cyberbullying is also essential, based on the assumption that universities and colleges may increasingly offer online classes in the future.