الفهرس 
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Abstract
Cyberbullying is a form of aggression that is intentionally and repeatedly carried out in an electronic context against a victim who cannot easily defend him- or herself. It can lead to catastrophic consequences for victims, ranging from depression, isolation, anxiety to more severe effects such as suicide.
Although the incidence of cyberbullying in college-aged learners appears to be less significant than in high school learners, surveys with college-aged learners have shown that it is still high. Studies with adolescents have shown a positive association between suicidality and cybervictimization as a stressful life case.
Although adolescent studies have shown that suicidal risk is a severe issue experienced by many teenage victims of cyberbullying, suicidality is one of the least studied mental health problems in research regarding the effects of cybervictimization among adults.
This thesis was designed aiming at covering the following areas in the theoretical part: (1) Bullying and Bullying Chameleons, (2) An Overview on Suicide, its theories and management, and (3) Bullying Repercussions.
A great deal of research has been done in the adolescent population over the last century; very few studies have been performed with emerging adults regarding the CB generally as well as its repercussions.
We hypothesized that Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are a fairly critical area of study in victims of CB and there are limited data on it. Thus, we investigated Type and severity of CB exposure and associated probability of suicide in a sample of social media users.
The present study evaluated 407 subjects of online social media users. Participants selected voluntarily to complete the survey which was published on widely popular platforms on social media (Facebook and Twitter) on 21st June 2019 till 14th August 2019 with open access for any online user. CB victims encouraged to participate yet anyone who uses the social media could have participated. Every respondent took an automatically generated number combining their time stamp and IP address to prevent data dublication. Inclusion criteria included age between 18-45 years, male and female subjects irrespective to their social background.
The tools were precisely selected to fulfil the purpose of the study, which included:
- The Cyberbullying Scale (CBS).
- The general health questionnaire (GHQ-28).
- And the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS).
Respondents have been divided into two groups according to their GHQ score as following:
a) group 1 (GHQ-28 score ≤ 7): no or minimal psychiatric symptoms.
b) group 2 (GHQ-28 score > 7): with potentially diagnosable psychiatric symptoms.
All data gathered were recorded, tabulated and transferred on Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) using personal computer and the suitable statistical parameters were used. Results were displayed to answer questions raised in the hypothesis of this study.
On demographic characteristics, our study demonstrated that the mean age of the participants was 23.68 (±4.78) years. Approximately 70% of the sample was females and 30% was males, 91.4% were single and 55.8% were students.
Prevalence of cyberbullying in our study was not easily applicable measurement, as the study targeted the CB victims. Plus the CB measurement tool was a severity questionnaire rather screening. Furthermore, there’s no consensus on the definition of CB and no standardized tool for its measurement.
83.78% (n= 341)of the sample reported exposure to moderate and severe forms of cyber bullying according to cyberbullying Severity Scale (CBS).
Exclusion was the most predominant form of CB that victims in the sample have faced regardless the severity of exposure. It was followed by Annoyance/Outing then Flaming, Denigration and finally Sexual Harassment.
On clinical aspects, our study found that Anxiety/Insomnia are the only group of symptoms that is associated with the severity of CB in group 1 respondents. It was also found that severity of suicidal probability is associated with female gender.
Our results also demonstrated that the higher the severity of CB victimization the higher the suicidal probability. There was a significantly positive correlation between suicidal ideation and probability to attempt suicide and degree of CB victimization and the pattern perpetuated upon the victim. All victims of severe level of exposure to CB reported severe degree of suicidal probability.
Hopelessness was found to be the most prevalent suicidal symptom while suicidal ideation come second then negative self-evaluation. Hence, suicide risk needs to be carefully monitored in CB victims, particularly in those who have hopelessness as a clinical symptom.
Applying regression analysis on our sample showed the importance of CB exposure as a potential risk factor of suicidality regardless the form of CB the victim had faced.
Identification and recognition of risk factors for suicidal behavior in CB victims should guide the development of empirically based preventive and intervention strategies aimed at reducing suicide rates.