Psychometric analysis of questionnaire of cyberbullying and aggression on the Internet

Introduction. The socialization of a modern teenager is inevitably connected with digital skills and communication on the Internet. The Internet itself acts as a cognitive technology that has many benefits and opportunities for cognitive development and education. At the same time, a child's activity on the Internet can lead to a number of risks, including a collision with aggression in the online space. With the development of information technology, a special type of bullying is being formed – cyberbullying. Often, Russian scientific articles do not provide data on the psychometric qualities of cyberbullying questionnaires and questionnaires used in the study. The content of the cyberbullying questionnaire requires constant updating and clarification of behavioral manifestations.

Materials and Methods. The paper describes the results of a psychometric test of questionnaire of cyberbullying and aggression on the Internet. The questionnaire consists of 18 direct questions and is designed to define the experience of cyberbullying. Psychometric features of the Survey were tested among sampled 312 respondents, including girls (n=231) and boys (n=81) at the age of 13-22.

Results. An exploratory factor analysis determines a four-component model of the Survey: cybervictimity, cyberagression, negative emotions from online communication and a factor of adults’ assistance. The Survey’s scales were verified for their reliability: Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of scales’ internal consistence is 0.712 – 0.779. The Surveys’ scales are reliably interconnected by their correlational ties from 0.50 to 0.60.

Discussion and Conclusions. Convergent validity of the Cyberbullying Survey is examined: this revealed reliable correlational ties with all CIAS scales, as well as with personal features of irascibility, proneness to conflicts, suspiciousness, and negative aggression on the whole (Personal Aggression and Proneness to Conflicts by E.P. Ilin and P.A. Kovalev). The obtained results prove that the Survey under analysis is a reliable psychometric instrument for studying cyberbullying which could be applied for scientific purposes and in practice.

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