Personality and cyberbullying behaviour among undergraduates in a Malaysian Public University
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Date
2023-04-25
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Department of Counsellor Education, University of Ilorin
Abstract
In modern times, social media has become veritable platforms of communication and interaction amongst young adults in the university environment as well as the larger society. As important as it is, certain users of the various platforms have continued use it to cause psychological and emotional trauma to others through cyberbullying activities. This study examined personality and cyberbullying behaviours of undergraduates in a west Malaysian public university. It was a quantitative study and it adopted correlational survey design. A total of 400 undergraduates were purposively selected from faculties of computing, electrical engineering and management. An adopted inventory entitled “TAJMA Personality Profile (TPP3)” and a researcher-developed questionnaire entitled “Engagement in Social Media Use and Undergraduates’ Cyberbullying Behaviours (ESMU)” were used for data collection. The instruments (TPP3 and ESMU) yielded coefficients of .95 and .92 respectively using the Cronbach’s alpha reliability. One research question and a null hypothesis were raised and tested respectively at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Data collected were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling Partial Least Squares 3 (SEM-PLS3). The findings revealed that there was significant relationship between personality and cyberbullying behaviours of university students. Hence, personality, particularly the distortion trait related to cyberbullying behaviours of undergraduates. It was recommended among others that undergraduates be properly and periodically educated and skilfully empowered on how to avoid distorted personality traits in their dealings with others, which is a likely strategy for stemming the menace of cyberbullying activities among undergraduates, particularly in a public university in West Malaysia.
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Keywords
Personality, Cyberbullying, Public University, Malaysia, TAJMA Personality Profile III