Investigating experiences of Afghan female university students towards online harassment

Figures & data

Table

Terms of online harassment	Definitions
Cyber stalking	Cyber stalking is explained as 1 :) messages of text, emails, or immediate messages which are aggressive or frightening; 2) aggressive remarks shared online, 3) private videos or pictures posted online or via cellphone (Van Der Wilk, 2018).
Cyber harassment	Cyber harassment is defined as the experiences of females in sexual harassment which encompasses 1) uninvited vivid aggressive sexual messages or emails; 2) improper aggressive actions on Internet’s space or social media like Facebook; dislike utterance, insulting emails and physical or sexual threatening of targets (Van Der Wilk, 2018).
Cyberbullying	Cyberbullying is one kind of cyber violence that is considered as cyber harassment that the majority of its affected targets are minors without consideration of gender. It encompasses the reiterated offensive virtual treatment aiming to scaring and destroying the personality and honor of somebody that occasionally leads the affected people to distress and self-murder (Van Der Wilk, 2018).
Cat fishing	Cat fishing when an individual on the internet makes a false identity for the aim of beginning a relationship is called Cat fishing (Seven types of online harassment to watch out for infographic, 2019).
Doxxing	Doxxing when a person shares someone else’s private information online aiming to harass the victims is called doxxing (Seven types of online harassment to watch out for infographic, 2019).
Trolling	Trolling when a person sends uninvited comments through online which are argumentative or accidental for the purpose of stimulating sentiment is called trolling. Fighting or inconvenience of individuals can be the results of a troll who is concealed in the back of their screen (Seven types of online harassment to watch out for infographic, 2019).
Online impersonation	Online impersonation when an individual uses the name of someone else online without his/her satisfaction aiming to bother, deceive, scare, or threaten the targeted person is named online impersonation (Seven types of online harassment to watch out for info-graphic, 2019).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of participants toward online harassment by age, class and first language

Frequency and Percentage		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Age	15–20	91	60.7	60.7	60.7
	21–25	58	38.7	38.7	99.3
	26–30	1	0.7	0.7	100
	Total	150	100	100
Class	Freshman	39	26	26	26
	Sophomore	48	32	32	58
	Junior	11	7.3	7.3	65.3
	Senior	52	34.7	34.7	100
	Total	150	100	100
First Language	Dari	97	64.7	64.7	64.7
	Pashto	22	14.7	14.7	79.3
	Uzbek	31	20.7	20.7	100
	Total	150	100	100

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of participants toward online harassment by age

ANOVA
Experience
	Sum of Squares	Df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Between Groups	.632	2	.316	1.632	.199
Within Groups	28.461	147	.194
Total	29.093	149

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of participants towards online harassment by class

ANOVA
Experience
	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Between Groups	1.078	3	.359	1.872	.137
Within Groups	28.016	146	.192
Total	29.093	149

Table 4. Descriptive statistics of participants toward online harassment by first language

ANOVA
Experience
	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Between Groups	.284	2	.142	.724	.486
Within Groups	28.809	147	.196
Total	29.093	149

Table 5. Correlation between students’ experiences of online harassment and their effect on them

Correlations
			Experience	Effect
Spearman’s rho	Experience	Correlation Coefficient	1.000	.237**
		Sig. (2-tailed)	.	.004
		N	150	150
	Effect	Correlation Coefficient	.237**	1.000
		Sig. (2-tailed)	.004	.
		N	150	150

Note: **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 6. Descriptive statistics towards common online harassment

No	Statement	SD	D	A	SA
1	Someone else shared my private photos and/or videos online that I did not permit them to post.	68.70%	28.00%	2.70%	0.70%
2	Someone threatened me to sharing my private photos or videos online in case I did not establish love relationship with them.	66.70%	29.30%	2.70%	1.30%
3	I had a friend (non-romantic) who shared my private message, videos, or images publicly.	72.70%	22.00%	4.70%	0.70%
4	Someone made rude comments about me online.	63.30%	30.00%	4.70%	2.00%
5	Someone spread an evil rumor about me online.	56.70%	37.30%	4.00%	2.00%
6	Someone sent me uninvited sexual messages.	72.00%	22.00%	5.30%	0.70%
7	Someone I know asked me to send them a sexual message, or naked photo of myself.	77.30%	14.00%	6.00%	2.70%
8	A stranger asked me online to meet him offline.	66.70%	24.70%	6.70%	2.00%
9	Someone used my name online with a fake account to threaten, insult, or defraud someone else.	78.70%	16.70%	2.70%	2.00%
10	Someone sent me love messages online and tried to make love relationship with me.	54.70%	19.30%	17.30%	8.70%
11	I received unpleasant messages from someone even after I told him to stop sending the messages to me.	55.30%	16.00%	20.70%	8.00%
12	Someone added me to social media groups without my consent.	42.00%	15.30%	30.70%	12.00%
13	I have been called offensive names in a public online space.	77.70%	16.20%	6.10%	0.00%
14	Someone threatened me to death via online.	81.30%	15.30%	2.00%	1.30%

Table 7. Descriptive statistics toward effects of online harassment

No	Statement	SD	D	A	SA
15	I lost my confidence in university.	62.70%	27.30%	8.70%	1.30%
16	I lost my hope to future.	59.30%	32.70%	6.70%	1.30%
17	I felt like leaving my university.	66.00%	26.70%	5.30%	2.00%
18	I felt like that my reputation was damaged in the community.	72.70%	20.00%	6.70%	0.70%
19	I felt scared.	54.70%	25.30%	16.00%	4.00%
20	My relationship with my classmates at university decreased in a high rate.	63.30%	26.70%	8.70%	1.30%
21	I felt threat to my physical safety.	64.70%	24.00%	9.30%	2.00%
22	I felt like trying to self-murder.	82.00%	15.30%	1.30%	1.30%
23	I got the feeling to live out of the sight of public.	69.30%	25.30%	1.30%	4.00%
24	I lost my confidence to using internet because it is not safe.	52.00%	21.30%	18.70%	8.00%
25	I felt depressed.	62.00%	17.30%	11.30%	9.30%

Table 8. Descriptive statistics of coping strategies with online harassment

No	Statement	SD	D	A	SA
26	I blocked someone who harassed me online because I did not want to hear from.	29.30%	25.30%	20.70%	24.70%
27	I asked my instructors to include online harassment preventive points in their teaching programs.	32.70%	34.70%	19.30%	13.30%
28	I filtered out received online messages.	37.30%	29.30%	20.70%	12.70%
29	I ignored it and kept silence when I was harassed online because I thought no response would lead the harasser to stop it.	39.30%	24.70%	20.00%	16.00%
30	I reported to the administrator of university when I got harassed online.	48.00%	33.30%	12.00%	6.70%
31	I deleted the person from my contacts that I did not like to keep in touch with.	24.00%	15.30%	39.30%	21.30%
32	I changed my settings so that the person could not contact me anymore.	34.70%	26.70%	22.00%	16.70%
33	I searched the internet for advice regarding online harassment.	44.00%	32.00%	14.70%	9.30%
34	I tried talking to the harasser on the internet or via cellphone to persuade him or her to stop.	48.00%	35.30%	12.00%	4.70%
35	I tried face-to-face talking with the harasser to persuade him or her to stop online harassment.	51.30%	34.00%	8.70%	6.00%
36	I shared the matter of harassment to my friends or family members to help me get rid of it.	35.30%	27.30%	19.30%	18.00%

Table

1= Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Agree 4=Strongly Agree.
Check (√) only one option for each item in the questionnaire.
No	Statement
	Common Online Harassment among Afghan Female university Students	1 SD	2 D	3 A	4 SA
1	Someone else shared my private photos and/or videos online that I did not want them to post.
2	Someone threatened me to sharing my private photos or videos online in case I did not establish love relationship with them.
3	I had a friend (non-romantic) who shared my private message, videos, or images publicly or with other friends.
4	Someone made rude or evil comments about me online.
5	Someone spread an evil rumor about me online.
6	Someone sent me uninvited sexual messages or emails.
7	Someone I know asked me to send them a sexual message, revealing, or naked photo of myself.
8	A stranger asked me online to meet him offline.
9	Someone used my name online with a fake account to threaten, insult, or defraud someone else.
10	Someone sent me love messages online and tried to make relationship with me.
11	I received unpleasant messages from someone even after I told him to stop sending the messages to me.
12	Someone added me to social media groups without my consent that I did not like.
13	I have been called offensive names in a public online space.
14	Someone threatened me to death via online.
Effects of online harassment on Afghan Female university students		1 SD	2 D	3 A	4 SA
15	I lost my confidence in academic activities of university.
16	I lost my hope to future.
17	I felt like leaving my university.
18	I felt like that my reputation was damaged in the community.
19	I felt scared.
20	My relationship with my classmates at university decreased in a high rate.
21	I felt threat to my physical safety.
22	I felt like trying to self-murder.
23	I got the feeling to live out of the sight of public.
24	I lost my confidence to using internet because it is not safe.
25	I felt depressed and anxious.
Online Harassment Strategies Afghan female university students coping with		1 SD	2 D	3 A	4 SA
26	I blocked someone who harassed me online because I did not want to hear from.
27	I asked my instructors to include online harassment preventive points in their teaching programs.
28	I filtered out received online messages.
29	I ignored it and kept silence when I was harassed online because I thought no response would lead the harasser to stop it.
30	I reported to the administrator of university when I got harassed online.
31	I deleted the person from my contacts that I did not like to keep in touch with.
32	I changed my settings so that the person could not contact me anymore.
33	I searched the internet for advice regarding online harassment.
34	I tried talking to the person on the internet or via cellphone to persuade him or her to stop.
35	I tried face-to-face talking about this behavior with the person or somehow persuade him or her to stop.
36	I shared the matter to my friends or family members to help me get rid of it.

Van Der Wilk, A. (2018). Cyber violence and hate speech online against women. Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs European Parliament.

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