Perceived anonymity and cyberbullying

Abstract

Although cyberbullying is a significant problem nowadays, there are few theoretical explanations for this phenomenon in the literature. Based on Barlett and Gentile’s cyberbullying model (2012), the aim of this paper was to examine the contribution of a variable specific to the virtual world - perceived anonymity - in explaining cyberbullying. It also aimed to examine whether there is a mediating effect of attitudes in the relationship between anonymity and cyberbullying, as well as a moderating effect of frequency of internet use on the relationship between anonymity and cyberbullying, as well as between attitudes towards cyberbullying and cyberbullying itself. A survey was administered online in March and April 2021 and data was collected from a convenient sample of 329 students (110 males), aged 18-30 years (M = 21.53, SD = 2.50). The results of the moderation-mediation analysis, performed in the Process macro for SPSS, showed that there was a significant mediation effect of positive attitudes in the relationship between perceived anonymity and cyberbullying, in the way that greater perceived anonymity predicted positive attitudes toward cyberbullying, which predicted more frequent cyberbullying. There was no significant direct contribution of more pronounced perceived anonymity to more frequent cyberbullying. Finally, the results showed that frequency of internet use did not have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between perceived anonymity and cyberbullying, as well as between attitudes and cyberbullying.