Can emotion regulation serve as a tool in combating cyberbullying?

Abstract

Victims of bullying tend to become cyberbullies themselves. The Cyclic Process Model describes the processes underlying the relationship between victimization and cyberbullying behavior. The current study examined whether all bullied adolescents experience these processes or that some bullied adolescents are more susceptible for these processes than others. We specifically investigated whether the way an adolescent deals with his/her anger affects the processes of the Cyclic Process Model. It was hypothesized that negatively regulating feelings of victimization-based anger would increase cyberbullying behavior, whereas positive emotion regulation would decrease this behavior. These hypotheses were tested using longitudinal data (N=1005; three waves). Using positive emotion regulation strategies to cope with anger did not result in a reduction in cyberbullying behavior. However, negatively coping with anger did result in higher levels of cyberbullying behavior. More specifically: adolescents were more inclined to perform cyberbullying behavior when they blamed others (or themselves) or constantly thought about the negative experience. This research highlights the importance of training adolescents how to constructively cope with their anger.