Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS)

Abstract

The Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS) is a psychometrically validated, multidimensional self-report assessment instrument formulated by JongSerl Chun, Jinyung Kim, and Serim Lee (2023) to measure the nature, frequency, and severity of digital victimization among adolescents. Developed and evaluated within the context of high digital connectivity in South Korea, the CVS addresses contemporary forms of cyber harassment, peer relational aggression, and electronic extortion that standard school climate instruments frequently overlook. The scale development protocol initiated with an initial pool of 26 items derived from an extensive literature review and concept mapping procedures. Following rigorous qualitative expert evaluation and a two-round Delphi survey applying Lawshe’s Content Validity Ratio (CVR) thresholds, the instrument was trimmed to 17 candidate items and subsequently administered to an adolescent cohort in Seoul, South Korea.

Through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and subsequent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the final instrument was consolidated into a 14-item, three-factor structure: (1) Verbal and Sexual Attack (5 items), (2) Intrusiveness (5 items), and (3) Threat and Extortion (4 items). Items are rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (Never) to 4 (Everyday / Always). The empirical evaluation established acceptable psychometric properties, with an overall internal consistency of α = 0.80 and subscale reliabilities ranging from α = 0.65 to 0.79. The three-factor solution explained 52.96% of the total variance, while CFA indices supported an acceptable structural fit (χ² = 175.07, df = 73, χ²/df = 2.40, CFI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.07). Significant criterion-related correlations with gaming addiction, smartphone dependency, depression, psychological stress, perceived self-efficacy, and self-esteem corroborated the scale’s construct validity, demonstrating its clinical and epidemiological utility for school social work, developmental psychology, and pediatric behavioral health.

Keywords

Adolescents, Cyberbullying, Victimization, Online Harassment, Factorial Validity, Verbal and Sexual Attack, Intrusiveness, Threat and Extortion, Digital Exclusion, Psychometrics, Scale Validation, South Korea

Authors

The Cyberbullying Victimization Scale was developed by faculty and doctoral researchers affiliated with the Department of Social Welfare at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Republic of Korea:

• JongSerl Chun, Ph.D. (Corresponding Author)
  Affiliation: Department of Social Welfare, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  ORCID: 0000-0001-8288-7140
  Email: [email protected]
  Correspondence Address: 52, Ewhayeodae-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03760, Republic of Korea.
• Jinyung Kim, M.S.W.
  Affiliation: Department of Social Welfare, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  ORCID: 0000-0003-1992-0424
• Serim Lee, M.S.W.
  Affiliation: Department of Social Welfare, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  ORCID: 0000-0003-3051-6625

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS) is to provide mental health professionals, school social workers, developmental psychologists, and educational researchers with a standardized, empirically validated self-report instrument capable of quantifying the multi-faceted patterns of digital victimization experienced by adolescents. In contemporary digital ecosystems, youth socialization is intensely mediated by mobile instant messaging applications (e.g., KakaoTalk, WhatsApp, Instagram Direct), social networking platforms (e.g., TikTok, Instagram, X/Twitter), and multiplayer online gaming networks. Traditional bullying measures that focus primarily on physical proximity, face-to-face peer intimidation, or overt campus-bound aggression fail to capture the ubiquitous, asynchronous, and boundaryless nature of digital harassment.

Specifically, the CVS addresses critical measurement gaps that have persisted in cyberpsychology and youth research. Many early cyberbullying screening tools treated digital abuse as a unidimensional construct, simply adapting standard schoolyard bullying items by appending the phrase “online” or “via the internet.” Such approaches systematically overlook culturally nuanced and technologically sophisticated forms of online peer victimization. In South Korea and other technologically advanced societies, digital victimization frequently manifests through covert group chat practices (such as “KakaoTalk prisons,” where victims are continually re-added to abusive group threads and denied exit), digital bread-shuttling (extortion of mobile phone data packets, in-game currency, or gift certificates), deepfake sexual parodies, and identity theft.

From an applied clinical perspective, the CVS enables practitioners to evaluate the precise behavioral topologies of adolescent trauma. Identifying whether a youth is suffering from persistent public defamation, severe private extortion, non-consensual sexual content dissemination, or digital ostracism is essential for designing targeted trauma-informed interventions. In educational settings, the CVS functions as an epidemiological screening battery for school-wide behavioral risk assessments, enabling pupil personnel services to benchmark baseline rates of electronic abuse, monitor shifts in online peer climates, and measure the programmatic efficacy of digital citizenship and anti-cyberbullying curricular interventions. Theoretically, the CVS advances research into the psychosocial etiology of digital strain, clarifying the mechanisms through which chronic online victimization exacerbates clinical depression, somatic distress, gaming addiction, and suicidal ideation.

Psychological Construct

The psychological construct assessed by the CVS is cyberbullying victimization, conceptualized as an ongoing pattern of intentional, harmful, aggressive behaviors enacted by individuals or groups against a peer using electronic forms of contact, wherein an asymmetric power dynamic exists between perpetrator and target. Unlike casual online incivility, cyberbullying victimization involves repeated digital intrusions, communicative hostility, or relational sabotage that the victim cannot easily evade due to the pervasive nature of digital devices. The CVS delineates this macro-construct into three correlated, empirically confirmed behavioral dimensions:

1. Verbal and Sexual Attack

This dimension captures direct interpersonal hostility enacted through communicative defamation, targeted insults, and non-consensual sexual victimization in the digital sphere. The construct encompasses the non-consensual creation, manipulation, and dissemination of sexually explicit or defamatory imagery (e.g., sexual parodies, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, deepfakes), the uninvited delivery of pornographic or sexually harassing media, persistent public verbal vilification via message board postings and comment sections, and online impersonation designed to defame the target’s social character. Psychologically, verbal and sexual cyber-attacks constitute an acute violation of bodily and social integrity, eliciting intense feelings of shame, social alienation, internalizing problems, and relational trauma.

2. Intrusiveness

The Intrusiveness dimension—alternatively characterized as intrusiveness and social exclusion—measures the violation of an adolescent’s digital boundaries, autonomy, and relational standing within peer networks. This dimension operationalizes covert and relational forms of electronic victimization, including unauthorized publishing of personal photographs and video recordings, the intentional leaking of sensitive private data (doxxing), and malicious rumor circulation regarding the victim’s personal or family life. Furthermore, it incorporates structural online peer exclusion, such as repeatedly kicking the target out of essential social group chats, trapping them within hostile digital message rooms, or systematically ostracizing or forcing their participation within competitive online gaming environments. This construct reflects the erosion of the victim’s safe psychological space, generating profound interpersonal anxiety and subjective isolation.

3. Threat and Extortion

The Threat and Extortion dimension reflects severe, high-stakes electronic aggression involving coercion, physical intimidation, blackmail, and economic predation. Items loading onto this factor quantify the receipt of explicit private messages threatening the physical life, health, or bodily integrity of the victim or their family members. Additionally, it encompasses digital blackmail and extortion (such as threats to expose personal secrets, private photographs, or fabricated narratives unless monetary funds, high-value personal property, gaming items, or smartphone data vouchers are surrendered). Psychologically, this construct measures severe coercive control, inducing acute terror, functional impairment, helplessness, and post-traumatic stress symptomatology among targeted youths.

Theoretical Framework

The architecture of the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale is informed by an integration of criminological, sociological, and developmental psychological paradigms that conceptualize how technology alters peer interpersonal violence. Four core theoretical frameworks provide the foundation for the CVS:

1. General Strain Theory (GST)

Formulated by Robert Agnew (1992), General Strain Theory posits that individuals experience strain when they are exposed to noxious stimuli, prevented from achieving positively valued goals, or stripped of positively valued stimuli. In the cyber realm, victimization constitutes a potent, uncontrollable noxious stimulus. The chronic presentation of verbal degradation, public humiliation, digital exclusion, and extortion creates severe subjective strain. According to GST, if adolescents lack internal coping resources, this digital strain manifests as emotional distress (depression, anger, self-derogation) or maladaptive compensatory coping mechanisms, such as pathological video gaming or compulsive smartphone usage, which serve as avoidant digital escape mechanisms.

2. Routine Activity Theory in Cyberspace

Originating with Cohen and Felson (1979) and subsequently adapted to electronic environments by Reyns, Henson, and Fisher (2011), Routine Activity Theory asserts that victimization occurs when three elements converge in space and time: a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian. Cyberspace fundamentally alters this dynamic by removing physical barriers. Adolescents’ routine online activities—continuous mobile gaming, active participation in open group chat platforms, and self-disclosure on social media—render them perpetually visible and accessible targets. The architecture of modern digital platforms diminishes traditional forms of guardianship (such as parental or school oversight), allowing motivated peers to deploy automated threats, harassment, and extortion around the clock.

3. Social-Ecological Systems Model

Rooted in Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, this framework posits that adolescent development is shaped across nested environmental systems (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem). Cyberbullying occurs at the intersection of the peer microsystem and the broader digital exosystem. The CVS was designed to capture how peer dynamics within South Korean youth culture—characterized by hyper-connectivity, intense academic competition, and rigid peer group hierarchies—interact with mobile technology platforms. Cultural factors shape the distinct manifestations of victimization, such as collective ostracism in chat groups and economic extortion through mobile data transfers, demonstrating the contextualized nature of digital peer aggression.

4. Digital Affordance Theory

Originating from human-computer interaction literature and communications theory, digital affordance theory posits that the functional properties of technical systems—anonymity, persistence, visibility, replicability, and searchability—alter the severity and impact of social behaviors. The CVS operationalizes constructs that exist exclusively due to these affordances. For instance, the permanence and replicability of digital media amplify the psychological toll of non-consensual sexual image exposure; anonymity facilitates impersonation and severe life threats; and network connectivity allows collective, synchronized social exclusion from shared gaming and communication channels.

Validity

The psychometric validation of the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale involved sequential evaluations of content validity, construct (factorial) validity, and criterion-related validity, demonstrating strong structural integrity and theoretical congruence.

Content Validity

Initial item generation yielded a pool of 26 items derived from literature syntheses and concept mapping with youth welfare practitioners. To establish rigorous content validity, the authors engaged a specialized expert panel via a two-round Delphi process. Panelists comprised social work professors, school social workers, youth counseling specialists, and cyber-deviance researchers. Item inclusion was governed by Lawshe’s (1975) Content Validity Ratio (CVR) formula:

CVR = (n_e − N/2) / (N/2)

where n_e represents the number of panelists rating an item as “essential,” and N represents the total panel size. In accordance with Lawshe’s critical cutoff parameters based on panel sizing, minimum CVR thresholds were maintained at 0.49 for the initial review phase and 0.56 for the secondary review round. Items exhibiting sub-threshold CVR values were systematically removed or rephrased, paring the instrument down to 17 candidate items prior to empirical field administration.

Construct and Factorial Validity

Construct validity was evaluated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures conducted on an adolescent sample in Seoul. Factor extraction using orthogonal and oblique rotation methods corroborated that the 14 retained items mapped cleanly onto three distinct structural dimensions, with each factor exhibiting substantive item loadings (≥ 0.30) and an absence of problematic cross-loadings. The empirical alignment of items confirmed that the CVS captures the multi-faceted nature of digital victimization without confounding direct communicative abuse with covert structural exclusion or predatory extortion.

Criterion-Related and Convergent Validity

Criterion-based validity was examined by assessing bivariate correlations between the CVS total and subscale scores and well-established external psychological criteria:

• Behavioral Addictions: The CVS demonstrated statistically significant positive correlations with validated measures of smartphone addiction and internet gaming addiction. Adolescents with elevated victimization reported higher levels of compulsive digital media use, consistent with self-medication and digital avoidance hypotheses.
• Psychological Distress: The scale exhibited strong positive associations with standardized assessments of perceived stress and clinical depression, confirming that high digital victimization is linked to internalizing mental health symptoms.
• Positive Psychological Resources: The CVS was inversely correlated with generalized self-efficacy and Rosenberg self-esteem. Adolescents subjected to repeated online attacks, privacy intrusions, and extortion reported lower perceived competence and lower personal self-worth.

Reliability

The reliability of the CVS was evaluated using internal consistency analysis across the total scale and its individual subscales. In the primary validation sample of South Korean adolescents, the instrument demonstrated acceptable to good overall internal reliability:

• Total Scale: The overall 14-item CVS achieved a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of α = 0.80, indicating good composite internal consistency and low measurement error for global screening applications.
• Verbal and Sexual Attack Subscale: This 5-item dimension demonstrated solid internal consistency with α = 0.79, reflecting strong item homogeneity among indicators of direct public insults, sexual defamation, and online impersonation.
• Intrusiveness Subscale: The 5-item intrusiveness and social exclusion dimension demonstrated acceptable internal consistency with α = 0.68. While marginally below the conventional 0.70 benchmark, this level is considered satisfactory for short, exploratory subscales tapping broad relational behaviors (ranging from doxxing to group chat manipulation and gaming exclusion).
• Threat and Extortion Subscale: The 4-item threat and extortion dimension yielded a Cronbach’s alpha of α = 0.65. Given the relatively low base-rate and severe nature of digital extortion and physical threats among normative youth samples, this value reflects an acceptable degree of internal consistency for low-prevalence, high-severity behavioral indicators.

Subsequent psychometric reviews have recommended computing McDonald’s omega (ω) in future validation trials to provide a less biased estimate of composite reliability, particularly for dimensions with mixed item skewness and varying tau-equivalence.

Factor Analysis

The factorial architecture of the CVS was established through a sequential two-stage psychometric process involving exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

The 17-item preliminary questionnaire was subjected to EFA to uncover the latent dimensions of cyber victimization. Items displaying factor loadings below the conventional threshold of 0.30 were eliminated or consolidated. This process resulted in the removal of 3 items, establishing a 14-item three-factor solution:

• Factor 1 (Verbal and Sexual Attack): Accounted for the largest proportion of common variance, with an initial eigenvalue of 2.80. This factor subsumes items related to manipulated sexual images, unsolicited pornographic media, public online attacks, hostile replies, and defamatory impersonation.
• Factor 2 (Intrusiveness): Generated an eigenvalue of 2.43, encompassing unauthorized photo uploads, forced participation or expulsion from online gaming, group chat expulsion/trapping, intentional doxxing of personal records, and malicious private rumor mongering.
• Factor 3 (Threat and Extortion): Yielded an eigenvalue of 2.19, comprising indicators of life threats, family threats, blackmail threatening private disclosure, and the predatory extortion of cash, gaming items, or mobile phone data.

Cumulatively, these three factors accounted for 52.96% of the total explained variance, surpassing the standard 50% threshold for construct adequacy in social science measurement.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

To evaluate the structural fit of the three-factor model, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. The model fit parameters for the adjusted 14-item measurement model were:

• Chi-Square (χ²): 175.07
• Degrees of Freedom (df): 73
• Normed Chi-Square (χ²/df): 2.40 (falling well within the recommended range of ≤ 3.00, indicative of good data-to-model consistency)
• Normed Fit Index (NFI): 0.84
• Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI): 0.87
• Comparative Fit Index (CFI): 0.90 (attaining the minimum threshold for acceptable structural fit; Kline, 2010)
• Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA): 0.07 (meeting the ≤ 0.08 criterion for acceptable approximate error; MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996)

Methodological Caveat

The authors noted an important methodological limitation: due to data collection constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the same sample of adolescents. As highlighted by psychometricians (e.g., Lorenzo-Seva, 2021), conducting EFA and CFA on identical sample partitions can increase the risk of capitalizing on chance idiosyncrasies within the data. While the fit indices provide promising support for the three-factor model, independent cross-validation across distinct adolescent samples is warranted to confirm the stability of these factor loadings.

Instrument / Measurement Tool

Below is a structured profile of the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale as a psychological measurement tool:

• Test Name: Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS)
• Authors: JongSerl Chun, Jinyung Kim, and Serim Lee
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Test Type: Original Multi-Item Self-Report Inventory / Psychometric Questionnaire
• Intended Population: Human adolescents (males and females), specifically validated with middle and high school students aged 13 to 17 years.
• Administration Format: Individual or group administration; paper-and-pencil or computerized/online survey administration.
• Administration Duration: Approximately 5 to 10 minutes.
• Item Count: 14 items across three correlated subscales.
• Subscale Breakdown:
  • Verbal and Sexual Attack: 5 items
  • Intrusiveness: 5 items
  • Threat and Extortion: 4 items
• Response Format: 4-point Likert-type frequency scale:
  • 1 = Never (Not at all)
  • 2 = Sometimes
  • 3 = Often (Oftentimes)
  • 4 = Everyday (Always)
• Scoring Procedures:
  • Subscale Scores: Calculated by summing the raw item scores within each dimension or by computing the subscale mean (sum divided by number of subscale items, retaining a 1.00 to 4.00 metric).
  • Total Composite Score: Calculated by summing all 14 items (potential raw score range: 14 to 56) or by computing the overall mean. Higher scores indicate more frequent and severe cyberbullying victimization.
  • Reverse-Scored Items: None. All items are positively keyed toward the victimization construct.
• Interpretation Guidelines: A score of 1 on any item indicates the absence of that specific form of cyber victimization. Scores of 2 or higher indicate exposure to digital abuse. Given the severe nature of certain items (e.g., death threats, extortion, deepfake sexual rumors), single-item endorsements on the Threat and Extortion or Verbal and Sexual Attack subscales warrant immediate clinical and safeguarding follow-up, regardless of the overall composite score.
• Available Languages: Korean (original instrument) and English (forward- and back-translated academic version).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Cyberbullying Victimization Scale was developed and published in 2023 by JongSerl Chun, Jinyung Kim, and Serim Lee. The scale is documented in the peer-reviewed literature in Children and Youth Services Review (Elsevier). The scale is available for academic, pedagogical, clinical, and non-commercial research purposes without royalty fees, provided that appropriate bibliographic credit and citation are given to the original authors and the publishing journal. Commercial reproduction, commercial licensing, or incorporation into fee-charging digital platforms requires formal written authorization from the primary author and the copyright holder.

References

• Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30(1), 47–88. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1992.tb01093.x
• Chun, J., Kim, J., & Lee, S. (2023). Development of a cyberbullying victimization scale for adolescents in South Korea. Children and Youth Services Review, 144, 106744. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106744
• Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44(4), 588–608. https://doi.org/10.2307/2094589
• Kim, J. H. (2017). Structural equation modeling: Basic concepts and applications. Seoul: Hannarae Publishing Co.
• Kline, R. B. (2010). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
• Lawshe, C. H. (1975). A quantitative approach to content validity. Personnel Psychology, 28(4), 563–575. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1975.tb01393.x
• Lorenzo-Seva, U. (2021). Why conducting exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis on the same sample is a bad practice. Psicothema, 33(3), 488–494. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2020.488
• MacCallum, R. C., Browne, M. W., & Sugawara, H. M. (1996). Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling. Psychological Methods, 1(2), 130–149. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.1.2.130
• Reyns, B. W., Henson, B., & Fisher, B. S. (2011). Being pursued online: Applying dynamic routine activities theory to cyberstalking victimization among college students. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 38(11), 1149–1169. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854811421448

Items of the Scale