Abstract
In order to prevent cyberbullying and cyber-victim behaviors that are very common among adolescents, it is important to investigate the factors that underlie these behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the mediator roles of cyber victimization and moral disengagement in the relationship between submissive behavior and cyber bullying. The participants involved 370 Turkish adolescents (female: 47%; male, 53%). The age of participants ranged between 12 and 19 years (M = 15.92, SD = 1.87). Data were collected using the Submissive Behavior Scale, the Cyber Bullying Scale, the Cyber Victimization Scale, and the Moral Disengagement Scale. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. A bootstrapping analysis was conducted in order to determine any indirect effects. Structural equation modeling results provided evidence of indirect effects of submissive behavior on cyber bullying mediated by cyber victimization and moral disengagement. Bootstrapping showed that submissive behavior exerted a significant indirect effect on cyber bullying via cyber victimization and moral disengagement. The findings emphasized the role of youth cyber victimization and moral disengagement in explaining the relationship between submissive behavior and cyber bullying. The results of the study were discussed based on relevant literature, and suggestions for future studies were made.
Highlights
In the last three decades, parallel to technological development, traditional aggression behaviors have become widespread as cyber bullying behaviors
The results show that the cyber victimization and moral disengagement plays a mediator role in the relationship between submissive behavior and cyber bullying
In this study, it is important to reveal the mediator role of personality traits in the relationship between cyber victimization and cyberbullying because it supported the framework of Kowalski et al (2014). it was found that cyber victimization and moral disengagement mediated the relationship between submissive personality trait and cyber bullying behaviors
Summary
In the last three decades, parallel to technological development, traditional aggression behaviors have become widespread as cyber bullying behaviors. It is observed that studies have mostly focused on cyber bullying behaviors and the factors affecting the cyber victimization behaviors have been emphasized less. There are limited number of studies in which cyber bullying and cyber victimization are involved and mediator factors are examined. Cyber bullying is defined as intentional and repetitive bullying behaviors aimed at harming the victim by means of electronic texts that are different from traditional bullying and cyber victimization is defined as being exposed to such behaviors (Patchin & Hinduja, 2006; Piotrowski, 2012). While cyber bullying and cyber victimization behaviors have been observed from primary school to university life, it is stated that this kind of behavior peaks especially between the ages of 11–15 (Tokunaga, 2010) and 11–16 (Smith et al, 2008)
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