The Prevalence of Cyberbullying and Cyber-Victimization Behaviours in Internet Usage among Adolescents in Secondary Schools of Westlands Sub-County, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

In the global world, with the increasing convenience of technology and its augmentation in the interconnectedness with human interaction, it is becoming possible that traditional bullying have turned digital, making cyberbullying a form of bullying that is novel and challenging. Despite this growing concern, there is a paucity of studies investigating this phenomenon among Nairobian adolescents, therefore this study was undertaken to establish the prevalence of cyberbullying behaviors in internet usage among the adolescents in the sampled schools of Westland's Sub-County, Nairobi County.The study used a quantitative research approach in the form of self-reported questionnaires. Moreover the present study used probability sampling techniques andtargeted a sample size of 228 students aged between 13 and 18 years. The results show that participation in cyberbullying behaviors was 14% and cyber-victimization behaviors among students was 23%. The Pearson's Correlation results found no association between cyberbullying behaviors (r = -.007, p > .05) and cyber-victimization behaviors (r = -.005, p > .05) with the compulsive internet usage but revealed positive significant correlation between cyberbullying perpetration and cyber-victimization behaviors (r = .367, p < .01) indicating that students exhibiting cyber-victimization behaviors end up becoming perpetrators themselves. Linear regression analysis further indicated that not age but gender had significant impact on the relationship between internet use and cyberbullying and cyber-victimization behaviors. On the whole this study assisted in gaining deeper insight indicating a noteworthy prevalence of cyberbullying and cyber-victimization behaviors among the teens in the schools of Westland Sub-County, Nairobi County. In conclusion the study underscores the need for providing active intervention strategies in raising awareness among the adolescents in family as well as in educational settings.