Does Deviant Peer Affiliation predict Cyberbullying Perpetration? Examining Moral Disengagement as a mediator and Neuroticism as a moderator

Deviant peer affiliation plays an important role in adolescents’ cyberbullying perpetration. However, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this association remain largely unknown. Based on Social-ecological conceptual framework of cyberbullying (SECF-C), we tested a moderated mediating model that neuroticism moderated the mediating role of moral disengagement on the relation between deviant peer affiliation and cyberbullying perpetration. A sample of 777 adolescents (aged from 11 to 16 years) participated our survey. Moral disengagement partially mediated the connections between deviant peer affiliation and cyberbullying perpetration. Also, both the direct association between deviant peer affiliation and cyberbullying perpetration and the indirect effect of moral disengagement were moderated by neuroticism, in that these effects were stronger for adolescence with high neuroticism than for those with low neuroticism. These mechanisms have potential implications in preventing adolescents’ cyberbullying perpetration.

偏差同伴交往（deviant peer affiliation）对青少年网络欺凌实施（cyberbullying perpetration）具有重要影响。然而，二者关联背后的中介与调节机制仍在很大程度上尚不明确。本研究基于网络欺凌社会生态概念框架（Social-ecological conceptual framework of cyberbullying，缩写SECF-C），构建并检验了一个有调节的中介模型：神经质（neuroticism）可调节道德脱离（moral disengagement）在偏差同伴交往与青少年网络欺凌实施之间的中介作用。本研究共招募777名年龄介于11至16岁的青少年参与问卷调查。结果显示，道德脱离在偏差同伴交往与青少年网络欺凌实施之间起部分中介作用。此外，偏差同伴交往与网络欺凌实施之间的直接关联，以及道德脱离的间接效应均受到神经质的调节：相较于神经质水平较低的青少年，神经质水平较高的青少年其上述效应更强。上述机制可为青少年网络欺凌实施的预防工作提供潜在借鉴意义。