The Relationship Between Bullying Victimization and Cyber Aggression Among College Students: The Mediating Effects of Relative Deprivation and Depression

Abstract

Introduction

Based on the general aggression model, the present study aims to examine the relationship between bullying victimization and cyber aggression as well as the mediating effects of perceived relative deprivation and depression on this relationship.

Methods

The present study employed a 3-wave longitudinal method featuring 6-month intervals to investigate 795 Chinese college students (476 female; M_age = 19.67). Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the relationships among bullying victimization, perceived relative deprivation, depression and cyber aggression.

Results

The results suggested that bullying victimization positively and significantly predicts cyber aggression in college students and that both perceived relative deprivation and depression play positive mediating roles in this relationship. Moreover, bullying victimization affects cyber aggression via the chain mediating roles of perceived relative deprivation and depression.

Discussion

This study offers valuable insight into ways of considering perceived relative deprivation and depression in the context of prevention and intervention strategies to help attenuate cyber aggression among victims of bullying.

Keywords:

• bullying victimization
• perceived relative deprivation
• depression
• cyber aggression
• college students

Ethics Approval

Prior to data collection, this study was approved by the ethics committee of the Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, and it was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Informed Consent

Written informed consent forms were obtained from each participant in this study.

Acknowledgments

The current study was supported by “the Humanities and Social Sciences Project of the Ministry of Education of China” (Project No. 22YJC190023), “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities” (Beijing Normal University), China (Project No. 2020NTSS02) and Research Center for Integrated Development of Industry and Education of Application-Oriented Institutes in Huanghuai College, Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Henan Province.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.