Patterns of cybervictimization and emotion regulation in adolescents and adults

Abstract

Research on cyberbullying has boomed in the past two decades. Findings from studies among adolescents suggest that they can be classified into distinct groups based on their cyberbullying experience, and that cyberbullying seems to be related to poor emotion regulation. So far, only a few studies have examined cyberbullying among adult workers and it is unclear whether cyberbullying develops similarly in that population. Therefore, in this study cyberbullying victimization was assessed in adolescents and adult workers simultaneously to address three aims: (1) to explore which groups can be distinguished based on their cyberbullying experience; (2) to analyze the associations of group membership with the way people regulate their emotions; and (3) to examine whether the results are comparable in adolescents and adults. Latent class analysis was used to analyze data from 1,426 employees and 1,715 adolescents in the first year of secondary education (12-13 years old). In each population, three profiles differing in their patterns of cybervictimization were identified: no cybervictimization (80%), work-related cybervictimization (18%), and pervasive cybervictimization (3%) for adults, and no cybervictimization (68%), similar-to-offline cybervictimization (27%), and pervasive cybervictimization (4%) for adolescents. Furthermore, these profiles differed in their use of emotion regulation strategies, with pervasive cyber-victims suppressing their emotions significantly more than other groups. Future research is needed to clarify the role of emotion regulation in cyberbullying as an antecedent or consequence of victimization.

Risk and Protective Factors in Cyberbullying: the Role of Family, Social Support and Emotion Regulation

“…Emotion regulation is a socio-emotional skill that is needed for successful social relationships (Gross & John, 2003), social competence (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1992), psychological well-being (Quoidbach et al, 2010) and regulating aggressive tendencies (Roberton et al, 2012). Negative and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies increase the risk of becoming both a perpetrator of cyberbullying (Baroncelli & Ciucci, 2014;Den Hamer & Konijn, 2016;Gianesini & Brighi, 2015) and a cybervictim (Gianesini & Brighi, 2015;Vranjes et al, 2018). Additionally, the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and the dynamics of cyberbullying might produce a vicious circle as the cyclic process model (Den Hamer & Konijn, 2016) suggested: If cybervictimized youngsters use maladaptive emotion regulation strategies to cope with the negative emotions following cyberbullying incidents, this maladaptive coping enhances the likelihood of their subsequent cyberbullying behaviour on the Internet (Den Hamer & Konijn, 2016).…”

Construct Validity in Workplace Bullying and Harassment Research

“…All in all, these applications indicate that LCC as a statistical technique works well to identify, over and above the victims of bullying, also other groups that differ from each other with respect to the frequency and severity of the reported negative social behaviours, making it a valuable tool to safeguard construct validity. Yet, LCC analysis is neither an easy nor a well-known procedure, but as is the case with ROC analysis, there is increasing evidence of its use contemporaneously (Magee et al, 2015;Reknes et al, 2017;Vranjes, Erreygers, Vandebosch, Baillien, & De Witte, 2018).…”

Cybervictimization and well-being among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating roles of emotional self-efficacy and emotion regulation

“…Limited research on emotion regulation in cybervictimization among adolescents and young adults demonstrated that cybervictims are more likely to use maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as suppression, self-blame, and rumination ( Ak, Özdemir, & Kuzucu, 2015 ; Arató, Zsido, Lénárd, & Lábadi, 2020 ; Erreygers et al, 2018 ; Vranjes, Erreygers, Vandebosch, Baillien, & De Witte, 2018 ). On the other hand, adolescents who experienced no cybervictimization reported more reappraisal ( Vranjes et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Limited research on emotion regulation in cybervictimization among adolescents and young adults demonstrated that cybervictims are more likely to use maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as suppression, self-blame, and rumination ( Ak, Özdemir, & Kuzucu, 2015 ; Arató, Zsido, Lénárd, & Lábadi, 2020 ; Erreygers et al, 2018 ; Vranjes, Erreygers, Vandebosch, Baillien, & De Witte, 2018 ). On the other hand, adolescents who experienced no cybervictimization reported more reappraisal ( Vranjes et al, 2018 ). Research on traditional bullying suggests that victimization during adolescence may affect future emotion regulation as the use of suppression among university students has been linked to greater retrospective reports of victimization during high school ( Chervonsky & Hunt, 2018 ).…”