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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: The current study explored whether agreeableness predicted cyberbullying perpetration across 3 years and extended previous studies by exploring the mediating effect of moral disengagement and the moderating effects of empathy and gender.
METHOD: The participants included 2,407 adolescents from seven middle schools in China. They were recruited to complete the Big Five Personality Inventory, Bullying Scale and Empathy Scale at Time 1, Moral Disengagement Scale at Time 1 and Time 2, and Cyberbullying Perpetration Scale at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3.
RESULTS: Agreeableness at Time 1 predicted cyberbullying perpetration at Time 3 and moral disengagement at Time 2 mediated this relationship. The relationship between moral disengagement at Time 2 and cyberbullying perpetration at Time 3 was stronger for low cognitive empathy adolescents than high cognitive empathy adolescents at Time 1. The relationship between agreeableness at Time 1 and cyberbullying perpetration adolescents at Time 3 was stronger for low affective empathy than high affective empathy adolescents at Time 1. The link between moral disengagement at Time 2 and cyberbullying perpetration at Time 3 was weaker for females than males.
CONCLUSIONS: Low agreeableness adolescents are more likely to use moral disengagement, which in turn leads to more cyberbullying perpetration.
Language: en |