Cyber Victimization, Perceived Social Support and Interpersonal Trust among University Students

Abstract

The current research aims to assess the relationship between cyber victimization, perceived social support and interpersonal trust among university students. A Correlational research design has been used. A sample of (N=251) university students (Male=93, female=153) of ages 18 to 25 (Mage = 21.3, SD = 1.45) were taken from four universities in Islamabad, through convenience sampling. It was hypothesized that there is likely a relationship between cyber victimization and interpersonal trust. Also, perceived social support would serve as a moderator. Data was collected using Revised Cyberbullying Inventory II (RCBI-II), Rotter’s Interpersonal Trust Scale and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The analysis was employed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25. The descriptive statistics was employed for demographic characteristics of participants and reliability analysis for psychometric properties. Partial Correlation was employed to assess correlation between study variables. Furthermore, Hierarchical Linear Regression was employed to assess prediction between study variables. Moderation was done using Process by Hayes to assess moderating effect of perceived social support on the relationship between cyber victimization and interpersonal trust. Results revealed that the correlation between cyber victimization and interpersonal trust was positive, when controlling gender. Perceived social support and cyber victimization were significant predictors of interpersonal trust. Moderation was not proved. Independent sample T-test was run to evaluate differences in gender and categories of age. Implications of the results have relevance to society, general public, as well as concerned authorities. It was concluded that females possess more Interpersonal Trust than males. Moreover, results further reveal that ages 22 to 25 have high interpersonal trust as compared to other studied age groups. Implications of the results have relevance to society, public, as well as concerned authorities.