Attitudes Toward Violence and Cyberstalking: Gender’s Moderating Role

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to investigate the moderating role of gender in the relationship between attitudes toward violence and cyberstalking. A total of 393 Brazilian’s volunteers composed the sample (Age mean = 29.3, SD = 8.54, EP = 0.43, 71.2% female). Overall, the results showed that a positive correlation between all four factors that compose the scale of attitudes toward violence with cyberstalking. Gender moderated this relationship (war: b = –0.45, t = –3.30, p<0.01, corporal punishment of children: b = – 0.40, t = –2.62, p < 0.01, penal code violence: b = –0.34, t = –3.20, p < 0.01, intimate violence: b = –0.74, t = –1.93, p = 0.05). Specifically, data indicated that the attitudes x cyberstalking relation only was significant in women. A possible explanation is that attitudes can function as a psychological mechanism to justify problematic behavior, increasing the probability of cyberstalking engagement. However, more studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis. Thus, it is concluded that the objectives were met, highlighting the role of attitudes in the perpetration of specific aggressive behaviors that are more prevalent among women, assisting in the study of online violence and its specificities.