Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry & Psychology Vol.6 Issue.1

Doi:10.35365/ctjpp.24.1.01

RESEARCH ARTICLE / ARAŞTIRMA YAZISI

Cyberbullying Motivations and Moral Disengagement among Adolescent Cyberbullies: Exploring the Mediating Roles

Siber Zorbalık Motivasyonları ve Ergenler Arasında Ahlaki Ayrılma Siber Zorbalar: Aracılık Rollerininin İncelenmesi

Ahmet M. Abdülaliam1

Abstract:

The study aimed to identify the factors and motivations that lead cyberbullied adolescents to engage in cyberbullying and to develop a structural model of the interrelationships between cyberbullying, moral disengagement, and bullying motivations. The primary research sample consisted of 804 adolescents from High schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with 302 adolescents identified as cyberbullies, aged between 16 and 19 years (M= 18.9, S.D= 1.6). The sample was obtained through electronic links distributed via email and social media platforms. The study used the Cyberbullying Questionnaire (CBQ- Bullying scale), Cyberbullying Moral Disengagement Scale, and Cyberbullying Motivations Scale. The findings of the study indicate that power and ideology are the most significant factors causing cyberbullying behavior 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 cyberbullying factors that favor males. Furthermore, the findings revealed that cyberbullying motivations and moral disengagement are positive predictors of cyberbullying behavior. Using structural modeling, the study confirmed the mediating role of power and moral disengagement variables in the influence of other factors like ideology, revenge, amusement, and sadism on cyberbullying behavior, in addition to the direct effects of the variables of instrumentality, ideology, and revenge on cyberbullying.

Keywords: Cyberbullying, Cyberbullying motivations, Moral Disengagement, Cyberbullies

1Assoc. Prof., Qassim University, College of Languages ​​and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Buraydah – Al-Qassim, [email protected], Orcid id:  0000-0002-4561-3391

Address of Correspondence/Yazışma Adresi: Ahmet M. Abdülaliam, Qassim University, College of Languages ​​and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Buraydah – Al-Qassim, E-mail: [email protected].

Date of Received/Geliş Tarihi: 05.07.2023, Date of Revision/Düzeltme Tarihi: 04.12.2023, Date of Acceptance/Kabul Tarihi: 27.02.2024, Date of Online Publication/Çevirimiçi Yayın Tarihi: 17.03.2024

Citing/Referans Gösterimi: Abdülaliam, A. M.  (2024). Cyberbullying motivations and moral disengagement among adolescent Cyberbullies: Exploring the mediating roles. Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry & Psychology, 6(1): 1-13

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Cyprus Mental Health Institute / Cyprus Turkish Journal of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.ktppdergisi.com). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/