Cyberbullying, cyber aggression, and cyber victimization in relation to adolescents’ dating and sexual behavior: An evolutionary perspective

Abstract

This study examined adolescents' cyberbullying, cyber aggression, and cyber victimization from an evolutionary perspective, extending previous research showing that traditional forms of bullying, aggression, and victimization are associated with reproductively relevant outcomes. Consistent with hypotheses based on theory and research linking bullying and aggression to intrasexual competition for mates, results indicated that cyber victimization was positively associated with a number of dating and sexual partners. Findings for cyber aggression were more complex, depending on the degree of cyber victimization experienced by the perpetrator, and the balance of power between the perpetrator and victim. Specifically, nonbullying cyber aggression by perpetrators with equal or less power than the victim had stronger positive relations with the number of dating or sexual partners when perpetrators experienced a high level of cyber victimhood. In contrast, cyberbullying by perpetrators with more power than the victim was negatively associated with the number of dating partners when the perpetrators' exposure to cyber victimization was low. Although cyber aggression and cyber victimization are new forms of aggression that involve the use of modern electronic devices, the results of this study demonstrate the usefulness of viewing this behavior from an evolutionary perspective and show that adolescents are likely to use cyber aggression against rivals in the context of intrasexual competition for mates. K E Y W O R D S cyber aggression, cyber victimization, cyberbullying, dating, evolutionary theory, sex

Balance of power and adolescent aggression.

“…Responses ranged from 1 = That hasn't happened to 5 = Several times a week and the three items were averaged to create total scores for high, equal, and low power aggression (αs = .73, .72, and .79, respectively). Previous research with this measure supports the validity of distinguishing the power balances of aggression (Lapierre & Dane, 2020a).…”

“…This suggests that while low power aggression may be associated with a degree of individual (i.e., explicit) power, it may also be associated with social isolation that may make them weaker than their targets (Veenstra et al, 2010). This again highlights the potential links between low power aggression and reactive or defensive aggression (Lapierre & Dane, 2020a). The lack of a positive association between implicit social power and high or equal power aggression differs from some previous research on bullying (Vaillancourt et al, 2003).…”

“…Proactive aggression is generally viewed as being more predatory and thus perhaps more closely related to high powered aggression; high power aggressors do tend to proactively select weaker targets (Veenstra et al, 2010). In contrast, reactive aggression is generally more defensive and associated with social maladjustment and low social status, and thus perhaps more consistent with low powered aggression (Book et al, 2019;Card & Little, 2006;Lapierre & Dane, 2020a;Volk et al, 2014). Indeed, by definition, reactive aggressors are less able to select their targets and, as such, may be more likely to encounter higher power targets.…”

“…Others have examined how a targets’ perception of being low in power relative to the perpetrator increases the severity of negative outcomes for those targeted individuals (Kaufman et al, 2020; Oblath et al, 2020; Ybarra et al, 2014). However, there is very little research examining whether adolescent aggression perpetrated in the context of different balances of power is differentially related to psychosocial and behavioral characteristics (Lapierre & Dane, 2020a). Thus, there is an important gap in the literature with regard to systematically comparing adolescent aggression perpetrated with differences balances of power.…”

Does the Association of Social Media Use with Problematic Internet Behaviours Predict Undergraduate Students Academic Procrastination?

“…Cyber bullying and victimization have been studied as online antisocial Internet use (Lapierre & Dane 2020;Ma, 2011) connoting intentional and repeated harm inflicted through electronic means (Brown, Demaray, & Secord, 2014). A study in a Nigerian university has documented that a range of 48% -57% undergraduates have been bullied through various cyber media and 28.6% -40.0% have bullied others through these devices (Nwosu, Ementa & Ejikeme, 2018).…”