Attachment anxiety and cyberbullying victimization in college students: the mediating role of social media self-disclosure and the moderating role of gender

Abstract

Backgrounds and purpose: Cyberbullying is a globally prevalent social problem that threatens the wellbeing of young people. Despite a rising call for more research focused on cyberbullying victims, our understanding of the psychological and behavioral risk factors associated with cyberbullying victimization (CV) remains limited, especially among the Chinese population. However, such information is crucial for identifying potential victims and planning targeted educational and protective interventions. In this paper, we report an empirical investigation into how attachment anxiety (AA), social media self-disclosure (SMSD), and gender interplay with each other to influence CV.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey data from 845 Chinese college students (Female = 635, M_age = 18.7) were analyzed in SPSS PROCESS using Haye's macro with the bootstrap method.

Results: Our data support a moderated mediation model. First, SMSD partially mediates the positive relationship between AA and CV, which suggests individuals with high AA tend to engage in risky and excessive self-disclosure behavior on social media, which, in turn, expose them to an increased risk of cyberbullying. Second, gender moderates the direct AA-CV path and the second stage of the mediation path, making the effect of AA on CV appear more direct in males (i.e., not mediated by SMSD) and more indirect (i.e., fully mediated through SMSD) in females.

Conclusion: The results contribute to an ongoing endeavor to better understand the psychological and behavioral mechanisms underlying CV and develop effective strategies to identify and protect vulnerable individuals.

Keywords: Chinese college students; attachment anxiety; cyberbullying; cyberbullying victimization; social media self-disclosure.