Adolescent cyberbullies and problematic internet use: The protective role of core self-evaluations.

Abstract

Cyberbullying is a growing problem in contemporary society. Although the risk factors are widely studied, there has been little research focussed on the personal resources that might help prevent or reduce it. This study aimed to analyse whether core self-evaluations can moderate the relationship between problematic internet use and cyberbullying. The participants were 456 cyberbullies aged between 12 and 18 (mean age: 15.01; SD = 1.44), extracted from an initial sample of 2085 young people. We used three self-report measures as measurement instruments (cyberbullying perpetration: ECIP-Q; problematic internet use: IAT; core self-evaluations: CSE). The results show that cyberbullying perpetration relates positively to problematic internet use and negatively to CSE. The moderation analysis highlighted the protective role of CSE only when the level of problematic internet use was not very high. These results highlight the need to implement measures at early ages to prevent problematic internet use and cyberbullying in which working on positive personal resources is of key importance. It concludes that this problem requires comprehensive models that are broader than those currently existing, which in addition to risk factors take into consideration personal, familiar, and contextual factors that can provide protection.