Emotional intelligence and peer cybervictimisation in adolescents: Gender as moderator

Abstract

Elucidating personal factors that may protect against the adverse psychological outcomes of cyberbullying victimisation might help guide more effective screening and school intervention. No studies have yet examined the role of emotional intelligence (EI) and gender in adolescent victims of cyberbullying and how these dimensions might interact in explaining cybervictimisation experiences. The main aim of this study was to examine the relationship between EI and cybervictimisation, and the interactive link involving EI skills and gender as predictors of cyberbullying victimisation in a sample of 1,645 Spanish adolescents (50.6% female), aged between 12 and 18 years. Regarding the prevalence of cybervictimisation, our results indicated that over 83.95% of the sample were considered non-cyber victims, while 16.05% experienced occasional or severe cyber victimisation. Additionally, findings indicated that deficits in EI and its dimensions were positively associated with cyber victimisation in both genders, but were stronger in females. Besides, a significant emotion regulation x gender association was found in explaining cyber victimisation experiences. While no interaction was found for males, for females the deficits of emotion regulation were significantly associated with greater victimisation. Our findings provide empirical support for theoretical work connecting EI skills, gender and cyber victimisation, suggesting emotion regulation skills might be considered as valuable resources, as well as the inclusion in new gender-tailored cyberation victimisation prevention programmes. Dilucidar los factores personales que protegen contra las consecuencias psicológicas de la cibervictimización podría ayudar a una detección e intervención escolar más eficaz. Ningún estudio ha examinado el papel de la inteligencia emocional (IE) y el género en adolescentes víctimas de ciberacoso y cómo estas dimensiones interactuan para explicar la cibervictimización. El objetivo de este estudio fue examinar la relación entre IE y cibervictimización, y el papel moderador de las habilidades de IE y el género como predictores de la cibervictimización en una muestra de 1.645 adolescentes españoles (50,6% mujeres) de edades entre 12 y 18 años. Con respecto a la prevalencia, nuestros resultados indicaron que el 83,95% de la muestra no eran cibervíctimas mientras un 16,05% eran cibervíctimas ocasionales o severas. Los resultados mostraron que los déficits en IE y sus dimensiones se asociaron positivamente con la cibervictimización en ambos géneros, pero más en mujeres. Además, se encontró una interacción significativa entre regulación emocional y género explicando las experiencias de cibervictimización. Aunque no hubo interacción para los hombres, para las mujeres el déficit en regulación emocional se asoció significativamente a mayor cibervictimización. Nuestros hallazgos proporcionan apoyo empírico para el corpus teórico que conecta las habilidades de IE, el género y la cibervictimización, sugiriendo que la regulación emocional puede ser considerada un recurso valioso, así como de inclusión en futuros programas de prevención de cibervictimización ajustados por géneros.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Cybervictimization, and Academic Performance in Secondary School Students

“…The results of this study show there is a negative association between high EI rates and the possibility of being cybervictimized and school failure. Previously, it had also been observed that low EI rates were positively associated with cybervictimization [53]. The increase in values on some scales, such as adaptability, stress management, and interpersonal emotions, can involve the increased likelihood of various perceived manifestations of school violence [44].…”

“…There is a set of school, social, cultural, and personal variables that can prevent or develop bullying behavior. It is important to analyze the social skills that may act as indicators, emphasize the importance of assessing cyberbullying systematically in all schools, and identify relevant variables or personal factors that programs should include to prevent and intervene in cyberbullying [52,53]. The goal of the present study is to provide new insights into the interactive role that EI and academic performance play in association with cybervictimization.…”

“…This study provided a tool to assess cyberbullying with psychometric guarantees of reliability and validity in a broad, representative sample. This test is easy to administer, score, and interpret, and it has been widely used [24,53,56].…”

Cyberbullying, Aggressiveness, and Emotional Intelligence in Adolescence

“…On the other hand, with respect to sex, most research finds that high levels of EI are negatively and significantly related to cybervictimization in both boys and girls [51]. Rey, Quintana, Mérida, and Extremera [52] found that deficits in EI and its dimensions were positively associated with cybervictimization in boys and girls, but more in women. For women, the deficit in emotional regulation was significantly associated with greater cybervictimization than in the case of men; thus, low emotional regulation predicted greater cybervictimization in girls than in boys.…”

Educational Environments with Cultural and Religious Diversity: Psychometric Analysis of the Cyberbullying Scale

“…The second dimension is called digital racist threats and concerns violent situations provoked by fear of the unknown or that which is different, causing behavioral problems such as insults or harassment through digital means (Rey et al 2018).…”