Investigating faculty-initiated verbal, physical, social, sexual, and cyberbullying: A cross-sectional study from Turkey

Introduction: People have long assumed that bullying does not occur in university classrooms. However, a closer examination of university education reveals that faculty-initiated bullying is a real phenomenon that warrants attention. This study aims to investigate the classical forms of bullying perpetrated by faculty members in the university setting. We examined various types of bullying, including physical, verbal, and social bullying, sexual bullying, and cyberbullying. This paper seeks to address questions about the prevalence of faculty-initiated bullying and abuse against students. Methods: A web-based survey of 12 questions was administered to 2,676 senior university students attending state universities in the West Black Sea Region of Turkey. A chi-square test was utilized to compare the proportions of bullying acts across different groups categorized by types of schools (universities, colleges, vocational schools, and language preparation schools), type of education (daytime and evening education), grade or level of education (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students), and gender (male and female). We set the significance level at 5% and conducted two-sided tests. Results: The sample of 2,676 students included 1493 (55.8%) females and 1183 (44.2%) males, representing 15.46% of the total university population. 1,642 (61.4%) participants received daytime education, while 1,034 (38.6%) received evening education. The results revealed significant differences in the prevalence of bullying by faculty members among various types of schools. Notably, the significant values were for universities or faculties offering four-year courses, vocational schools/colleges offering two-year courses, and one-year language preparation courses. Additionally, between daytime and evening education, the groups differed only in the dimension of social bullying. Discussion: Bullying and mistreatment are quite common in higher education. Furthermore, male and female students showed only verbal and physical bullying distinctions. Finally, significant differences in physical, verbal, and sexual bullying and cyberbullying were observed in terms of grade levels, whereas no such difference was noted for social bullying. Take-home message: The results indicate that bullying at the university level is a real phenomenon that needs immediate attention. We need to prioritize interventions to increase the education and awareness of faculty members.