Cyberbullying: relationship with developmental variables and cyber victimization

Background and objective: Cyberbullying is increasingly turning into a significant problem for children and adolescents due to its adverse psychological and academic outcomes. In the present study, the protective and risk factors for cyberbullying has been investigated. One of the aims of the study was to examine the relationship between peer relations, negative emotion regulation strategies, and cyberbullying. The successful identity development process is thought to influence both cyberbullying behaviors as well as adolescents' peer relations and emotion regulation. Also, cyber victimization is seen as a risk factor for cyberbullying. The second aim of the study is to investigate the causal relationship between cyber victimization and cyberbullying. Method: The study is a descriptive research in which both cross-sectional and longitudinal data were used. In the cross-sectional part of the study, 1,151 adolescents have participated, and the data of the second wave was obtained from 322 of them four months later. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM) and hierarchical regression analyses. Results and conclusion: According to the results of SEM, good peer relations predicted less cyberbullying. The expressive repression explained the cyberbullying through peer relationships. For identity development, contrary to expectations, commitment dimension of identity seemed to be positively related to more cyberbullying and so did higher reconsideration of commitment. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that Time 1 cyber victimization predicted Time 2 cyberbullying. Given the pattern of cross-lagged relationships, it was tentatively inferred that cyber victimization was the temporal precursor to cyberbullying. The results of the study have implications for the prevention of cyberbullying.