The incidence of Bullying and cyberbullying in the dropout of students from Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Bullying is a violent act where one person attacks another physically or verbally with the aim of belittling them, physically harming them, or ridiculing them in front of their surroundings. In recent years, these types of attitudes have been manifested virtually, using some type of device and social media, known as cyberbullying. These types of attitudes, expressed by students, can affect their academic performance and therefore put their continued education at risk. In this sense, the present research aims to analyze the incidence of bullying and cyberbullying in school dropouts in students from Higher Education Institutions. For this purpose, a quantitative approach was used, in which a questionnaire was designed and validated by experts, and the Cronbach's Alpha reliability test was applied, obtaining a value of .878, to a sample of 84 students who have dropped out of a Higher Education Institution. The main results show that 38.1% of students regularly considered dropping out of school. The semester/quarter in which they reported dropping out was primarily in the second year. 39.3% were almost always subjected to bullying/cyberbullying. A Kendall correlation test was obtained, yielding a value of .169. Therefore, it can be concluded that dropping out is related to cyberbullying/bullying attitudes in the school environment.