The effects of exposure to dating violence and cyber victimization of female university students on resilience and happiness levels

Purpose: To examine the effects of exposure to dating violence and cyber victimization of female university students on resilience and happiness levels. Methods: The data of this descriptive and correlational study were obtained from 400 female students studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing between December 2021 and April 2022 via a personal information form, the Cyber Victim Scale (CVS), the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and the Oxford Happiness Inventory – Brief Form (OHI). In data analysis, Independent Samples t-Test, Pearson Correlation, and Linear Regression analysis were used together with descriptive statistics. Results: Of the students, 6.5 % were exposed to physical, 8.3 % to economic, 9.8 % to sexual, 28.8 % to verbal, and 53.8 % to emotional dating violence. A significant difference was found between students' exposure to verbal (p = 0.013) dating violence and their resilience. A significant difference was also found between students' exposure to verbal and sexual (p = 0.04) dating violence and their happiness. There was a significant, negative, poor correlation between the mean of the female students' CVS scores and the BRS (r = −0.178, p < 0.001) and OHI scores (r = −0.247, p < 0.001). It was concluded that cyber victimization is a risk factor for resilience and happiness of the female university students. Conclusion: Early detection of dating violence and cyber victimization among university students is important in combating violence. In addition, considering that cyber victimization affects the level of psychological resilience and happiness, students' awareness of cyber victimization should be increased in the fight against cyber victimization to increase the mental health of young people.