Parental mediation, cyberbullying, and cybertrolling: The role of gender

Abstract

Researchers are concerned with identifying the risk and protective factors associated with adolescents' involvement in cyberharassment. One such factor is parental mediation of children's electronic technology use. Little attention has been given to how different parental mediation strategies (i.e., instructive, restrictive, co-viewing) relate to adolescents' cyberharassment (i.e., cyberbullying, cybertrolling) perpetration and victimization, and how gender might impact these associations. To this end, the present study examined the moderating effect of gender on the longitudinal association between parental mediation strategies and adolescents' cyberharassment involvement. This focus was examined using a sample of 568 (53% female) adolescents from the 8th grade in the United States. The association between restrictive mediation and cybervictimization was more positive for girls when compared to boys, while the relationship between instructive mediation and cybervictimization was more negative for girls than for boys. The findings underscore the importance of considering parents in adolescents' cyberharassment involvement.