Cyberharassment and cyberbullying: individual and institutional perspectives

Abstract

Research on finding a relationship between institutional policy and the proliferation of cyberstalking, cyberharassment and cyberbullying in young adults, is limited. It has been reported that stalking on university campuses has a different profile than stalking nationally because of the nature of their mate-seeking age, proximity of the perpetrator to its victim and the ease of accessing personal information. This study gathered data on the experiences of cyberstalking and attitudes to aggressive online communication from a student and staff population. Results suggest that online communication is ambiguous and there is a need for online norms, to which young people can adhere, university staff reported regular online abuse as part of their working lives. Participants were generally not aware if the university had an Acceptable Internet use policy (AIUP). Moreover, participants were sensitive to being harassed and while being aware of how they were affected by the online behaviour of others, there was less certainty of the effects of their own behaviour. © 2016 by Interactive Media Institute