TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Gender differences between cyberbullying victimization and meaning in life: roles of fatalism and self-concept clarity JO - Journal of interpersonal violence A1 - Geng, Jingyu A1 - Wang, Yuhui A1 - Wang, Pengcheng A1 - Zeng, Pan A1 - Lei, Li SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - Despite widely linking cyberbullying victimization (CV) to some poorer mental health outcomes, CV also negatively impacts the internal strengths that make life worth living, such as meaning in life, which has received less attention. This study thus aimed to examine the relationship between CV and presence of meaning in life as well as the mediating roles of fatalism and self-concept clarity in this relationship. Gender differences in the mediation model were also examined. A sample of 766 Chinese junior school students (M = 13.11 years, SD = 1.19 years) completed questionnaires regarding CV, presence of meaning, self-concept clarity, and fatalism. The results revealed that CV was significantly and positively correlated with presence of meaning. Structural equation modeling indicated that self-concept clarity and fatalism completely mediated the link between CV and presence of meaning in parallel and sequential manners. The multigroup analysis further showed that CV was positively related to fatalism only among girls and had a stronger negative association with self-concept clarity for girls compared with boys. Thus, the indirect link between CV and presence of meaning was stronger for girls (versus boys).

FINDINGS suggested that CV was associated with poor self-concept clarity, stronger fatalism, and low levels of presence of meaning in life among adolescents, especially for girls. Increasing self-concept clarity and decreasing fatalistic beliefs are thus necessary to help cyberbullying victims to develop meaning in life.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0886-2605 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/08862605211028285 ID - ref1 ER -