Research hypotheses.

BackgroundOnline anti-social behaviour is on the rise, reducing the perceived benefits of social media in society and causing a number of negative outcomes. This research focuses on the factors associated with young adults being perpetrators of anti-social behaviour when using social media.MethodBased on an online survey of university students in Canada (n = 359), we used PLS-SEM to create a model and test the associations between four factors (online disinhibition, motivations for cyber-aggression, self-esteem, and empathy) and the likelihood of being a perpetrator of online anti-social behaviour.ResultsThe model shows positive associations between two appetitive motives for cyber-aggression (namely recreation and reward) and being a perpetrator. This finding indicates that young adults engage in online anti-social behaviour for fun and social approval. The model also shows a negative association between cognitive empathy and being a perpetrator, which indicates that perpetrators may be engaging in online anti-social behaviour because they do not understand how their targets feel.研究背景：在线反社会行为（online anti-social behaviour）呈上升趋势，削弱了社交媒体在社会中的感知效益，并引发了诸多负面后果。本研究聚焦于青年成年人在使用社交媒体时成为在线反社会行为实施者的相关影响因素。 研究方法：本研究基于对加拿大大学生开展的在线调查（n=359），采用偏最小二乘结构方程模型（PLS-SEM）构建结构模型，检验了四类因素——在线去抑制效应（online disinhibition）、网络攻击动机（motivations for cyber-aggression）、自尊（self-esteem）与共情（empathy）——与实施在线反社会行为的可能性之间的关联。 研究结果：模型结果显示，网络攻击的两类享乐性动机（即娱乐与奖励）与实施在线反社会行为呈正相关。该发现表明，青年成年人实施在线反社会行为的目的在于获取乐趣与社会认同。此外，模型还发现认知共情（cognitive empathy）与实施在线反社会行为呈负相关，这意味着实施者可能因无法理解受害者的感受而做出此类在线反社会行为。