Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS)

Abstract

The Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS), developed by Chun, Kim, and Lee in 2023, is a crucial self-reported, multidimensional psychological instrument. It was specifically designed to measure the extent of Cyberbullying Victimization among adolescents, with an initial focus on the unique socio-cultural context of South Korea. The development process was rigorous, beginning with a comprehensive literature review and concept mapping that yielded an initial pool of 26 items.

To ensure linguistic and conceptual accuracy, the initial Korean items underwent a meticulous translation, back-translation, and qualitative expert review process involving social work specialists. Following a Delphi survey, the scale was refined to 17 items. The final version of the CVS consists of 14 items distributed across three distinct factors, demonstrating acceptable reliability and strong validity in the study sample of adolescents from Seoul.

The authors acknowledged a methodological limitation stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated using the same sample for both exploratory and confirmatory analyses. This practice is typically discouraged in psychometrics. Consequently, the researchers recommend future studies to utilize separate, distinct samples for these analyses, as advised by Lorenzo-Seva (2021), in order to solidify the scale’s psychometric properties globally.

Keywords

Adolescents, Cyberbullying, Factorial Validity, Intrusiveness, Threat and Extortion, Verbal and Sexual Attack, Victimization, Self-Report, Scale Development

Authors

Chun, JongSerl, Kim, Jinyung, Lee, Serim

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS) is to provide researchers and clinicians with a robust, self-reported measure for the comprehensive assessment of victimization experiences related to cyberbullying among adolescent populations.

The instrument is designed to capture the multifaceted nature of online harassment by breaking down victimization into specific, measurable dimensions, thereby aiding in targeted intervention and prevention strategies within educational and social welfare settings, particularly in the context of East Asian culture.

Construct

The CVS measures the psychological construct of Cyberbullying Victimization, which is understood as the experience of being subjected to harmful, aggressive, or unwelcome actions carried out through electronic means (e.g., smartphones, social media, online games).

The final 14-item scale is structured as a three-factor model, reflecting distinct behavioral manifestations of cyberbullying experienced by victims. These three subscales are: Verbal and Sexual Attack, Intrusiveness and Social Exclusion, and Threat and Extortion. This multidimensional approach allows for a granular understanding of the types of harm experienced by adolescents online.

Validity

The validity of the CVS was established through multiple rigorous testing methodologies, confirming that the scale accurately measures the intended construct.

Content Validity: Content validity was ensured through expert review utilizing the Content Validity Ratio (CVR). Items scoring below the predetermined minimum CVR thresholds were either revised significantly or removed entirely. The minimum CVRs applied were 0.49 in the first round and 0.56 in the second round, adjusting for the differing number of expert panelists involved in each assessment round (Lawshe, 1975).

Factorial Validity: Factorial validity was confirmed through comprehensive Factor Analysis (both Exploratory and Confirmatory analyses), supporting the theoretical three-factor structure of cyberbullying victimization.

Criterion-Based Validity: The CVS demonstrated significant correlations with several external psychological criteria, providing evidence of its criterion-based validity. Specifically, the scale was found to be statistically correlated with measures of gaming addiction, smartphone addiction, stress, and depression. Conversely, it showed expected inverse correlations with protective factors such as self-efficacy and self-esteem.

Reliability

The reliability of the CVS was assessed through measures of internal consistency, indicating the degree to which items within the scale measure the same underlying construct.

Internal Consistency: The overall reliability of the 14-item CVS demonstrated acceptable consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha ($alpha$) value of 0.80. The reliability coefficients for the individual subscales also fell within moderate and acceptable ranges, specifically:

• Verbal and Sexual Attack: $alpha$ = 0.79

• Intrusiveness and Social Exclusion: $alpha$ = 0.68

• Threat and Extortion: $alpha$ = 0.65

Factor Analysis

The structure of the CVS was derived and confirmed through a two-step process involving both exploratory and confirmatory statistical modeling.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): The EFA was conducted on the initial 17-item pool. During this process, three items that registered factor loadings below 0.3 were either removed or merged with other factors. This refinement resulted in the final, robust three-factor structure comprised of 14 items. The eigenvalues associated with these three factors (F1, F2, F3) were 2.80, 2.43, and 2.19, respectively. Cumulatively, these three subscales accounted for 52.96% of the total model variance.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed to assess how well the observed data fit the hypothesized three-factor model. The model fit indices for the adjusted model indicated a good fit: $chi^2$ = 175.07 (df = 73), the ratio $chi^2$/df = 2.40, NFI = 0.84, TLI = 0.87, CFI = 0.90, and RMSEA = 0.07. These metrics align with established standards for acceptable model fit in structural equation modeling (MacCallum et al., 1996; Kline, 2010).

Instrument

Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: Respondents rate each item on a four-point Likert scale, with options ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (always).

Language Available: English; Korean

Population Group: Human; Male; Female adolescents

Age Group: Adolescence (13-17 years)

Population Details: Respondents were Korean Adolescents located in South Korea, serving as the sample for the initial validation study.

Test Methodology: Test Validity, Construct Validity, Content Validity, Criterion Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis

Keywords

Adolescents, Cyberbullying, Factorial Validity, Intrusiveness, Threat and Extortion, Verbal and Sexual Attack, Victimization, Psychological Assessment

Authors

Chun, JongSerl

• Author ORCID Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8288-7140

• Affiliation: Ewha Womans University, Department of Social Welfare

• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

• Correspondence Address: 52, Ewhayeodae-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, 03760

Kim, Jinyung

• Author ORCID Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1992-0424

• Affiliation: Ewha Womans University, Department of Social Welfare

• Affiliation Email addresses: No data is Available

Lee, Serim

• Author ORCID Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3051-6625

• Affiliation: Ewha Womans University, Department of Social Welfare

• Affiliation Email addresses: No data is Available

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: May use for Research/Teaching

Commercial: No

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Chun, J., Kim, J., & Lee, S. (2023). Development of a cyberbullying victimization scale for adolescents in South Korea. Children and Youth Services Review, 144, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106744

Items of the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS)

Participants are asked to respond to the following statements based on a 4-point scale:
1 = Never
2 = Sometimes
3 = Often
4 = Everyday

Verbal and sexual attack

• The manipulated sexual rumors, sexual parody, photos, and videos of me were exposed online

• I have constantly received unwanted sexual contents, pornographic sites, photos, and videos from someone online

• I have seen online posts attacking me publicly

• I have constantly received online replies attacking me publicly

• Someone has impersonated me, and written posts that insult me or defame others

Intrusiveness

• My photos and videos have been posted online without my permission

• I have been forced to play online games, and/or constantly excluded from online games

• I have been repetitively invited to and/or kicked out from the group chat

• My personal information has been intentionally exposed online

• A malicious rumor about my private lives has been exposed online

Threat and extortion

• I have received private messages/chats online that threatened my life

• I have received private messages/chats online that threatened my family

• I was threatened by someone who would expose my private lives and/or rumors about me if not given the demanded money and/or valuables

• I have been extorted online money, cash, game item, or mobile data by someone online