Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of social media usage has led to a rise in online bashing, adversely affecting the mental health and well-being of students. Consequently, there is a pressing need for a robust tool to determine the coping strategies employed by individuals experiencing online bashing. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Coping with Social Media Bashing Scale (CoSMB). An exploratory sequential research design was employed and a total of 1,014 college students across three universities in the Philippines were recruited to participate in the study. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to identify the underlying structure of the CoSMB, followed by a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to validate the factor model. Cronbach’s alpha and inter-item/inter-total correlations were utilized to assess the scale’s reliability, while content and criterion validity tests were performed to examine the scale’s validity. EFA and CFA yielded a 10-item scale consisting of two factors: ‘Assertive Coping’ and ‘Passive Coping’. The scale demonstrated excellent validity and high internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of .80. Mental health professionals can leverage the CoSMB to design interventions for students distressed by online bashing, enabling them to create personalized treatment plans and support strategies.

Keywords

social media psychometric properties online negativity mental health college students bashing

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abarna

Sheeba

J. I.

Jayasrilakshmi

Devaneyan

S. P.

(2022). Identification of cyber harassment and intention of target users on social media platforms. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, 115, Article 105283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2022.105283

Begotti

Bollo

Acquadro Maran

(2020). Coping strategies and anxiety and depressive symptoms in young adult victims of cyberstalking: A questionnaire survey in an Italian sample. Future Internet, 12(8), Article 136. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12080136

Bettmann

J. E.

Anstadt

Casselman

Ganesh

(2021). Young adult depression and anxiety linked to social media use: Assessment and treatment. Clinical Social Work Journal, 49(3), 368–379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-020-00752-1

Bhagat

R. S.

Allie

S. M.

Ford

D. L.

(1995). Coping with stressful events: An empiricalanalysis. In Crandall

Perrewé

P. L.

(Eds.), Occupational stress: A handbook. Series in health psychology and behavioral medicine (pp. 93–112). Philadelphia, PA: Taylorand Francis.

Boateng

G. O.

Neilands

T. B.

Frongillo

E. A.

Melgar-Quiñonez

H. R.

Young

S. L.

(2018). Best practices for developing and validating scales for health, social, and behavioral research: A primer. Frontiers in Public Health, 6, Article 149. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00149

Byrne

V. L.

(2021). Blocking and self-silencing: Undergraduate students’ cyberbullying victimization and coping strategies. TechTrends, 65(2), 164–173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-020-00560-x

Cameron

(2009). A sequential mixed model research design: Design, analytical and display issues. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 3(2), 140–152. https://doi.org/10.5172/mra.3.2.140

Carver

C. S.

(1997). You want to measure coping but your protocol’too long: Consider the brief cope. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4(1), 92–100. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0401_6

Casu

Gremigni

(2019). Is a single-item measure of self-rated mental health useful from a clinimetric perspective? Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 88(3), 177–178. https://doi.org/10.1159/000497373

10.

Chan

H. C.

Sheridan

(2020). Coping with stalking and harassment victimization: Exploring the coping approaches of young male and female adults in Hong Kong. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 25(2), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12168

11.

Chiou

W. B.

Lee

C. C.

Liao

D. C.

(2015). Facebook effects on social distress: Priming with online social networking thoughts can alter the perceived distress due to social exclusion. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 230–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.064

12.

DeVellis

R. F.

(2003). Scale Development: Theory and Applications (2nd ed.). Newbury Park: SagePublications.

13.

Diamantopoulos

Sarstedt

Fuchs

Wilczynski

Kaiser

(2012). Guidelines for choosing between multi-item and single-item scales for construct measurement: A predictive validity perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(3), 434–449. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-011-0300-3

14.

Fernández-Martín

F. D.

Flores-Carmona

Arco-Tirado

J. L.

(2022). Coping strategies among undergraduates: Spanish adaptation and validation of the Brief-COPE inventory. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 15, 991–1003. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S356288

15.

Folkman

Lazarus

R. S.

(1988). Coping as a mediator of emotion. Journal of personality and social psychology, 54(3), 466. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.54.3.466.

16.

Gaskin

Lim

(2016). Model fit measures. Gaskination’s StatWiki, 37(3), 814–822.

17.

Hair

J. F.

Hult

Ringle

C. M.

Sarstedt

(2022). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). Sage.

18.

Heale

Twycross

(2015). Validity and reliability in quantitative studies. Evidence-Based Nursing, 18(3), 66–67. https://doi.org/10.1136/eb-2015-102129

19.

Henseler

Ringle

C. M.

Sarstedt

(2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8

20.

L. T.

Bentler

P. M.

(1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3(4), 424–453. https://doi.org/10.1037//1082-989x.3.4.424

21.

Kaiser

H. F.

(1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02291575

22.

Keum

B. T.

Wang

Y. W.

Callaway

Abebe

Cruz

O’Connor

(2023). Benefits and harms of social media use: A latent profile analysis of emerging adults. Current Psychology, 42(27), 23506–23518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03473-5

23.

Kolhar

Kazi

R. N. A.

Alameen

(2021). Effect of social media use on learning, social interactions, and sleep duration among university students. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, 28(4), 2216–2222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.01.010

24.

Labrague

L. J.

Rosales

R. A.

Arteche

D. L.

Santos

M. C.

Calimbas

N. D. L.

Yboa

B. C.

… Apacible

M. A.

(2025). How academic pressure drives dropout intentions: The mediating roles of life satisfaction and stress in nursing students. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 20(1), 61–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2024.11.006

25.

Lazarus

R. S.

Folkman

(1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer Publishing Company.

26.

Luttrell

Wallace

A. A.

(2021). Social media and society: An introduction to the mass media landscape. Rowman & Littlefield.

27.

Ouvrein

Vandebosch

De Backer

C. J.

(2020). Online celebrity bashing: Purely relaxation or stressful confrontation? An experimental study on the effects of exposure to online celebrity bashing on the emotional responses and physiological arousal among adolescent bystanders. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(9), 588–594. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0642

28.

Pew Research Center . (2024). Social media fact sheet. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/

29.

Polit

Beck

(2020). Essentials of nursing research: Appraising evidence for nursing practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

30.

Raza

S. A.

Qazi

Umer

Khan

K. A.

(2020). Influence of social networking sites on life satisfaction among university students: A mediating role of social benefit and social overload. Health Education, 120(2), 141–164. https://doi.org/10.1108/he-07-2019-0034

31.

Schmitt

(1996). Uses and abuses of coefficient alpha. Psychological assessment, 8(4), 350–353. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/1040-3590.8.4.350.

32.

Shen

Meng

Zhang

Huang

Luo

Zhang

X. Y.

(2020). Internet addiction among college students in a Chinese population: Prevalence, correlates, and its relationship with suicide attempts. Depression and Anxiety, 37(8), 812–821. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.23036

33.

Shi

Sun

(2012). Content validity index in scale development. Zhong nan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban=. Journal of Central South University. Medical sciences, 37(2), 152–155. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1672-7347.2012.02.007

34.

Smyth

J. M.

Filipkowski

K. B.

(2010). Coping with stress. In: French

Vedhara

Kaptein

Weinman

, editors. Health Psychology. 2nd ed. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010. p. 271-82.

35.

Statista . (2024). Social media-statistics and facts. https://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/#topicOverview

36.

Stevens

Nurse

J. R.

Arief

(2021). Cyber stalking, cyber harassment, and adult mental health: A systematic review. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 24(6), 367–376. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2020.0253

37.

Suler

(2004). The online disinhibition effect. CyberPsychology and Behavior: The Impact of the Internet, Multimedia and Virtual Reality on Behavior and Society, 7(3), 321–326. https://doi.org/10.1089/1094931041291295

38.

Thomas

Akhawe

Bailey

Boneh

Bursztein

Consolvo

Dell

Durumeric

Gage Kelley

Kumar

McCoy

Meiklejohn

Ristenpart

Stringhini

(2021). Sok: Hate, harassment, and the changing landscape of online abuse. In 2021 IEEE symposium on security and privacy (SP) (pp. 247–267). IEEE.

39.

Valenzuela-García

Maldonado-Guzmán

D. J.

García-Pérez

Del-Real

(2023). Too lucky to be a victim? An exploratory study of online harassment and hate messages faced by social media influencers. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 29(3), 397–421. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-023-09542-0

40.

Valkenburg

P. M.

Beyens

Meier

Abeele

M. M. V.

(2022). Advancing our understanding of the associations between social media use and well-being. Current Opinion in Psychology, 47, Article 101357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101357

41.

Valkenburg

P. M.

van Driel

I. I.

Beyens

(2022). The associations of active and passive social media use with well-being: A critical scoping review. New Media & Society, 24(2), 530–549. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211065425

42.

Wachs

Gámez-Guadix

Wright

M. F.

(2022). Online hate speech victimization and depressive symptoms among adolescents: The protective role of resilience. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 25(7), 416–423. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2022.0009

43.

Welch

S. R.

(2023). Clinical stress and clinical performance in prelicensure nursing students: A systematic review. Journal of Nursing Education, 62(1), 36–41. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20221109-03

44.

Wong

W. L. L.

Yuen

K. W. A.

(2023). Online learning stress and Chinese college students’ academic coping during COVID-19: The role of academic hope and academic self-efficacy. The Journal of Psychology, 157(2), 95–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2022.2148087

Coping With Social Media Bashing Scale (CoSMB): Development and Psychometric Testing

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References