Date of Conferral

11-12-2025

Date of Award

November 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Chet Lesniak

Abstract

Previous researchers have found that face to face bullying by students directed towards postsecondary education faculty may result in negative mental and emotional impacts. The virtual environment provides a unique opportunity for student-to-faculty bullying behaviors, known as cyberbullying, to occur. Researchers have not yet studied how psychology faculty in particular experience stress when cyberbullied by students. The purpose of this qualitative study, rooted in phenomenological design, was to improve the understanding of how psychology faculty who are cyberbullied by students experience stress. Contrapower harassment theory was used to ground these research questions and design. The research questions examined the experiences of psychology faculty cyberbullied by students and how these same faculty members experienced stress. Purposeful snowball sampling technique was used to obtain 11 participants who answered questions via online survey regarding their experiences being cyberbullied by students. Responses were coded using the modified Stevick- Colaizzi- Keen method of qualitative analysis. For many participants who experienced being cyberbullied, the emotional reactions included stress. The stress experienced led to detrimental effects and responses that participants engaged in to avoid the stressful situation of being cyberbullied by a student. The results from this study may lead to social change by way of university administration enacting programs and policies to thwart and respond to cyberbullying behaviors. Additionally, results from this study could be presented in order to influence the creation of laws and sanctions regarding cyberbullying behavior.

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