Causal Factors Contributing to Youth Cyberbullying in the Deep South of Thailand.

Abstract

Violence against each other via social media has increased and caused cyberbullying that can happen anytime through electronic communication tools that everyone can access easily. Cyberbullying is sending, posting, and sharing negative, harmful, and false information about another, causing embarrassment online on social media. This study aims to investigate causal factors contributing to youth cyberbullying in Thailand's deep south. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 340 youths in Thailand's deep south, consisting of 220 males and 120 females. The subjects were divided by age range: 22-23 years old (40.6%), 24-25 years old (26.8%), 18-19 years old (17.1%), and 18-19 years old (15.5%). The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM). The results were that the model of the causal factors resulting in youth cyberbullying in the deep south of Thailand was consistent with the empirical data (the relative chi-square (χ2/df) was 1.77). The goodness-of-fit index (GFI) was 0.95. The root-mean-square error of approximate (RMSEA) was 0.049). Cyberbullying was positively influenced directly and indirectly by negative upbringing, the influence of personal violence, and the influence of media violence at a statistically significant level of 0.001, with total effect sizes of 1.13, 0.74, and 0.64, respectively. Additionally, cyberbullying was positively influenced directly by negative mental traits with a statistically significant level of 0.05 and a total effect size of 0.17. This study suggests that the results could be beneficial in concretely forming policies and strategies to prevent and mitigate the problem of youth cyberbullying.