Students' Experiences of Victimization and Perpetration of Online Violence

Authors

  • Ljiljana Stevkovic Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation
  • Antonija Raspopovic Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation
  • Danica Vasiljevic-Prodanovic Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation

Keywords:

online violence, victimization, victims, gender-based violence, students

Abstract

Purpose

 

            The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an accelerated shift to digital services and platforms in all areas, including distance learning and work from home in many professions. Rapid technological development and the increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) by young people have made them benefit from outstanding opportunities on the internet and via new technologies, in terms of education, socialisation and opportunities. The use of ICT has also led to increased risk of victimisation, as well as criminalisation, in various ways in the digital world. Bearing that in mind, the purpose of this paper is to present findings from research on students’ experiences of victimisation by online violence, as well as their violent behaviour in cyberspace.

Design/Methods/Approach

            In this cross-sectional study, the data were collected during the Spring semester of the academic year 2021/22,  on a random sample of university students in Serbia. We used an online questionnaire, as a convenient method of data collection, that enables higher response rates, guarantees the anonymity of the respondents, and eliminates any tendency toward bias. The questionnaire used in this survey represents a combination of a victimisation survey and a self-reported survey.

Findings

            Research findings show a high risk of online victimization among university students in Serbia. Most of them were victims of multiple forms of online violence, including the IPV, mostly in a form of control tactics. Additionally, in half of the cases, the results indicate victim-offender overlap, with respondents being the victim and the perpetrators of online violence.

Originality/Value

            Most of the available research on cyber victimization focuses mainly on children and adolescents as victims and/or as perpetrators, without recognizing the student population as the most frequent users of the IKT, which puts them at high risk of cyber victimization and risk of behaving intrusively and violently in cyberspace. Our research only sheds light on this problem and emphasises the need for more comprehensive research on a sample of this category of young people and the development of preventive strategies adjusted to them in order to prevent their victimisation and perpetration of cyber violence.

Keywords: online violence, victimization, victims, gender-based violence, students.

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Published

2023-04-04

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Section

Etiology, Phenomenology and Trends of Contemporary Crime