Online disinhibition and adolescent cyberbullying: A systematic review

Abstract

There has been a growing focus on researching adolescent cyberbullying in recent years. Increasing studies highlight the role of online risk factors—online disinhibition and its specific characteristics—in cyberbullying among adolescents. Systematic searches were performed in MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycArticles, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science. There were 837 papers in total, 410 of which were non-duplicated, and 15 were ultimately included. Based on the current empirical findings, it has been observed that a heightened perception of online disinhibition corresponds with an increased likelihood of engaging in cyberbullying activities. In addition to the direct effect of online disinhibition on cyberbullying, research also found that online disinhibition functioned through moral disengagement and low self-control to influence cyberbullying. Furthermore, the effects of specific characteristics of online disinhibition on cyberbullying were also investigated. However, most studies (six out of seven) merely focused on the effects of anonymity on cyberbullying, and the results were inconsistent. Additionally, the effects of perception of invisibility and asynchrony on cyberbullying were also examined in limited research. The results showed that online invisibility had no effect on cyberbullying. Asynchrony contributed to cyberbullying directly and indirectly through moral disengagement. Further research is required to investigate the impacts of solipsistic introjection, dissociative imagination, and minimizing authority on the occurrence of cyberbullying. These findings are discussed, and practical as well as policy implications and guidelines for future studies are proposed.