Cyber-aggression and psychological aggression in adolescent couples: A short-term longitudinal study on prevalence and common and differential predictors.

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence of cyber-aggression in Spanish adolescent couples as well as the common and differential predictors for cyber-aggression and psychological aggression using a short-term longitudinal study. Over a 6-month period, six hundred and thirty-two (632) Spanish adolescents with romantic relationship experience from seven schools were randomly selected to participate in the study (51% male; average age = 15.03). The results revealed a prevalence of cyber-aggression of 13% and that 68.3% of adolescents engaged in psychological aggression. Girls were significantly more involved than boys in both forms. The analysis of predictors for cyber and psychological aggression showed that these two forms of aggression shared a common factor, negative couple quality. Furthermore, cognitive empathy predicted cyber-aggression whereas anger regulation and jealousy predicted psychological aggression. These results highlighted the need to consider the particular characteristics of each setting, face-to-face and online, for designing future prevention programs.