Is gender-based violence in digital environments related to problematic use of social networds?
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The increased use of social networks among adolescents has generated new forms of digital interaction, among which online gender-based violence behaviours stand out. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between gender-based cyber-violence - both in the form of victimisation and harassment of women and men - and problematic use of social networks (PUSN) in a representative sample of Spanish adolescents. A total of 1164 students from Secondary Education and 1st year of Baccalaureate in the province of Alicante participated. Validated instruments to measure PUSN and three scales of gender cyberviolence (victimisation, bullying of females and bullying of males) were applied. Correlational analyses showed positive and significant relationships between the PUSN and all dimensions of gender-based cyber-violence: victimisation, harassment of women and harassment of men. Likewise, ANOVAs revealed significant differences between PUSN levels (low, medium and high) on cyber-violence scores, with the high use group showing higher levels of victimisation, harassment of women and harassment of men, with significant differences in all post hoc comparisons. Finally, logistic regression models showed that gendered cyber-violence significantly predicted high PUSN in either victimisation (OR = 1.115), harassment of women (OR = 1.128) and harassment of men (OR = 1.083). These findings underline the close relationship between experiences of gender-based violence in digital environments and problematic use of social networks, which raises the need for specific preventive interventions that address both digital literacy and gender equity in educational contexts.
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