Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Jennifer Putnam

Abstract

Victimization and perpetration of cyberbullying are ongoing threats to school systems across the United States. Cyberbullying is a vast problem for adolescents, due to constant access and availability of technology via the online environment. This mixed methods study was based on the theoretical framework of Bandura’s (1989) theory. This study investigated the perceptions of middle school educators concerning cyberbullying via educator surveys, focus groups, and interviews to gather mixed methods data. This study took place in four middle schools in upstate South Carolina within District X. One hundred three educator participants took the survey, 12 educators participated in focus groups, and eight educators were interviewed. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of middle school educators regarding cyberbullying, build on previous literature, and add related knowledge to current research. Results showed that educators are aware and extremely concerned about cyberbullying at the middle school level. Educators perceived parental awareness, parental involvement, and parental monitoring could directly impact cyberbullying. Additionally, educators saw a need to educate students, parents, and teachers to impact cyberbullying. A future study that examines parent perceptions with regard to student monitoring would be beneficial as well as a larger sample size.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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