Degree Date

10-2022

Document Type

Dissertation - Public Access

Degree Name

Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology

Academic Discipline

Clinical Psychology - Florida School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Christina D. Brown, Psy.D.

Second Advisor

Dr. Sharie Fabregas, Psy.D.

Abstract

Trauma has been considered as one of the significant causes of psychological distress, especially if the traumatic event occurred in the childhood. At the same time, due to wide popularity of social media as a source of communication, cyberbullying emerged as a new way to harass someone, with specific focus on adults and young adults. The area of focus of this research project is to investigate whether experienced trauma, specifically developmental trauma might serve as a risk factor for cyberbullying victimization. Additional focus was on the differences in traumatic experiences and their impact for people with diverse cultural and ethnic identities as well as different genders. Based on the results of this research project, it appears that there is an association between developmental trauma and cyberbullying victimization. However, more research in needed regarding the impact of developmental trauma, as well as diversity aspects. The research project also investigated assessment and intervention strategies to address the experienced trauma in adolescents and young adults.

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