Personality Predictors of Cyber-Victimization and Cyber-Bullying in Adolescence

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Abstract

The article presents an empirical study of personality predictors of cyber-victimization and cyber-bullying in adolescence. There is a shortage of domestic (Russian) studies of individual psychological predictors of both cyber victimization and cyber aggression. To overcome this deficit, an empirical study was organized on a sample of 220 students of secondary specialized and higher educational institutions (age range from 16 to 22 years old, average age 18.3). There is a strong gender bias towards the female in the sample. Using the adapted Cyberbullying and Online Aggression Survey S. Hinduja, J.W. Patchin we measured indicators of cyber-victimization and cyber-aggression among students. To diagnose personality traits, the Russian-language version of the Big Five Inventory (BFI) questionnaire was used. As a result of step-by-step regression analysis, several reliable models of personality traits were built that predict cyber victimization and cyber aggression. Cyber-victimhood predicts declining conscientiousness (β = -0.197) and increasing openness to new experiences (β = 0.148) and neuroticism (β = 0.145). Cyberbullying predicts declining conscientiousness (β = -0.227), benevolence (β = -0.178), and increasing extraversion (β = 0.171). The special role of the lack of conscientiousness, the only personality trait that affects both phenomena at once, is discussed. Analysis of personal predictors of cyber-victimhood in the domestic sample of students as a whole shows a similar picture with the available foreign data. Based on the identified models, it became possible to build preventive programs to reduce cyberbullying in adolescence.

General Information

Keywords: cyberbullying, cyber-victimhood, personality, predictors, adolescence, conscientiousness

Journal rubric: Legal Psychology of Childhood

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/psylaw.2023130107

Funding. This work was supported by state assignment No. 07-00080-21-02 of 08/18/2021, registry entry number 730000F.99.1.

Received: 23.12.2021

Accepted:

For citation: Vikhman A.A. Personality Predictors of Cyber-Victimization and Cyber-Bullying in Adolescence [Elektronnyi resurs]. Psikhologiya i pravo = Psychology and Law, 2023. Vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 94–106. DOI: 10.17759/psylaw.2023130107. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Aleksander A. Vikhman, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Department of Practical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Perm State Humanitarian Pedagogical University, Perm, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5483-1702, e-mail: vixmann@mail.ru

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