Cyberbullying, Digital Footprint, and Cyber Security Awareness Levels of Secondary School Students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the digital footprint awareness of students while surfing on cyberbullying, cyber security and social networks with demographic data such as class, school, gender, internet usage level. This research was carried out using a descriptive survey model. The study group of the research consisted of 467 volunteer students studying at Anatolian and vocational high schools in Çorum. Research data were collected using the Digital Footprint Awareness Scale for Secondary School Students, Personal Cyber Security Scale, and Cyberbullying Scales for High School Students. The obtained data were analyzed using arithmetic mean, standard deviation, ANOVA, MANOVA, and logistic regression analysis. Because of this research, vocational high school students exhibit more cyberbullying behavior than Anatolian high school students, female students exhibit less cyberbullying behavior than male students, cyberbullying behavior increases as the time spent on the internet increases, and there is no difference according to classes. When the cyber security levels are examined, it is seen that there is no difference according to gender, internet usage level, and classes, but it differs according to the type of school and the Anatolian high school students have higher cyber security levels than the vocational high school students.