Social Connectedness and Impulsivity as Predictors of Cyberbullying Behaviors in Early Adolescence

ABSTRACT

Cyberbullying is recognized as a problematic behavior that is often first identified during adolescence, a period which has increased susceptibility to developing mental health disorders. Due to the ever-growing nature of social media and technology, cyberbullying behaviors are becoming increasingly problematic for the adolescent demographic. Research has shown that impulsivity, social connectedness, and gender may influence cyberbullying behaviors. To our knowledge, the current study was the first to investigate the direct relationship between these variables and cyberbullying involvement in early adolescents. The sample consisted of participants of the same age and school grade, in order to ensure that data were comparable regarding stage of social development. The sample was 12-year-old participants in grade 7 (N = 69), recruited from the Sunshine Coast, Australia. It was hypothesized that higher impulsivity, lower social connectedness, and female gender would predict higher cyberbullying perpetration and victimization. The results did not support this hypothesis; however, a significant positive relationship between cyberbullying perpetration and victimization was revealed, as well as between impulsivity and social connectedness. Findings from this study help to inform preventative interventions to protect vulnerable individuals from serious mental health disorders, as well as support the need for further research in this area.

KEYWORDS:

• Victimization
• online aggression
• youth
• mental health

Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the Australian Commonwealth Government’s “Prioritizing Mental Health Initiative” (2018-20).

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

Ethics Approval Statement: Ethics approval for LABS was granted by the University of the Sunshine Coast Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval A181064).

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Commonwealth Government’s ‘Prioritizing Mental Health Initiative’ (2018–2020).