Cyberbullying motivations and moral disengagement among adolescent Cyberbullies: Exploring the mediating roles

Authors : Ahmed Abdelaliem

Pages : 1-13

Doi:10.35365/ctjpp.24.1.01

View : 193 | Download : 183

Publication Date : 2024-03-28

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The study aimed to identify the factors and motivations that lead cyberbullied adolescents to engage in cyberbullying and to develop a model illustrating the interrelationships between cyberbullying, moral disengagement, and bullying motivations. The primary research sample consisted of 804 adolescents in secondary schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 302 adolescents were identified as cyberbullies, ranging in age from 16.6 to 19.5 years (M= 18.9, S.D= 1.6). This sample was obtained by distributing an electronic link via e-mail and various social media platforms. The tools of study are Cyberbullying Questionnaire (CBQ- bully) (Calvete et al., 2010), Cyberbullying Moral Disengagement Scale (Bussey & Fitzpatrick, 2014) and Cyberbullying Motivations Scale (Megawer & Rabi\', In press). The findings of the study indicate that power and ideology are the most significant causes of cyberbullying behavior and the most significant from the perspective of cyberbullies, followed by instrumental, amusement, sadism, external factors, revenge, and finally moral disengagement. There are differences between males and females in certain cyberbullying factors that favor males. In addition, the findings revealed that cyberbullying motivations and moral disengagement positively predict cyberbullying behavior, and through the use of constructive modeling, the mediating role of some variables (Power and moral disengagement) was confirmed in the impact of other variables (Instrumental, ideology, revenge, amusement, and sadism) on cyberbullying behavior.
Keywords : Siber zorbalık, Siber zorbalık motivasyonları, Ahlaki kopukluk, Siber zorbalar