Cyberbullying Among Adolescents: The Role of Affective and Cognitive Empathy, and Gender

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the association between affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and gender on cyberbullying among adolescents. Participants were 396 adolescents from Singapore with age ranging from 12 to 18 years. Adolescents responded to a survey with scales measuring both affective and cognitive empathy, and cyberbullying behavior. A three-step hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used with cyberbullying scores as the dependent variable. Gender was dummy coded and both affective and cognitive empathy were centered using the sample mean prior to creating interaction terms and entering them into the regression equations. The testing, probing and interpretation of interaction effects followed established statistical procedures. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated a significant three-way interaction. At low affective empathy, both boys and girls who also had low cognitive empathy had higher scores on cyberbullying than those who had high cognitive empathy. This pattern of results was similarly found for boys at high affective empathy. However, for girls, high or low levels of cognitive empathy resulted in similar levels of cyberbullying. Implications of these findings include the need for empathy training and the importance of positive caregiver-child relationships in reducing cyberbullying behavior among adolescents.

Understanding the relationship between experiencing workplace cyberbullying, employee mental strain and job satisfaction: a dysempowerment approach

“…Furthermore, the remote nature of cyberbullying means the perpetrator is potentially less aware of the target's reaction which may lead to a reduction in empathy (Slonje & Smith, 2008) or an increase in the aggressive nature of the acts (Suler, 2004). Indeed, reduced social cues or misinterpretation of emotion have been mooted to explain low empathy in (Ang & Goh, 2010) and negative evaluations of online communication (Byron, 2008).…”

Bystander Responses to Bullying at Work: The Role of Mode, Type and Relationship to Target

“…Misunderstandings between sender and receiver are more likely in online communication, since it lacks the facial and body language cues that are normally used in face-to-face expression (Suler 2004). These cues play an important role in the process of automatic activation of empathy, and their absence can lead to increased levels of aggression and a greater chance of disinhibited behaviours (Ang and Goh 2010). As a result, a deindividuation effect occurs, making people less sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of others (Siegel et al 1986).…”

“…Empathy and fairness were not measured directly in the study, particularly bystanders' trait level of empathy. Dispositional empathy predicts engagement in cyberbullying (Ang and Goh 2010;Kowalski et al 2014) and adoption of the defender role (Nickerson et al 2008) in school samples and likelihood of bystander intervention in online abuse in a university sample. Inclusion of trait empathy could moderate the impact of mode and type on bystander intervention intention to the extent that the influence of online bullying should be stronger for individuals lower in trait empathy.…”

Department Chairs as Leaders: A Model of Social Intelligence and Creative Performance in a State University

“…Empathy refers to one's ability to understand others and take active interest in them, recognizing and responding to changes in their emotional states, and understanding their feelings (cf. Goleman, 2005;Albrecht, 2007;Ang & Goh, 2010). Empathy includes several components: cognitive, intellectual, affective, and behavioral.…”