Relative Deprivation And Cyberbullying Among College Students:A Moderated Mediation Model

With the development of the Internet,college students have become a high-risk group of cyberbullying.Previous studies found that about 19% of college students reported had been bullied online,and 61% of them said they had witnessed cyberbullying but did not take any measures.Cyberbullying will not only make the victims anxious and depressed,but also bring many bad effects to the perpetrators,such as anxiety,depression,violent behavior,and even suicide.Therefore,it is of great significance to explore the influencing factors and mechanism of college students’ cyberbullying for further prevention and intervention.Based on relative deprivation theory,ego depletion theory,social support buffer model and risk-protective model,this study explored the influence of relative deprivation on college students’ cyberbullying behavior,and the mediating role of ego depletion and the moderating role of social support.In this study,521 university students(mean age=20.55 years,SD=1.49)were studied using the Relative Deprivation Scale,the Cyberbullying Scale,the Ego Depletion Scale,and the Social Support Scale.The data were analyzed using Spss 26.0,Amos 24.0 and Mplus 8.3.The results show that:(1)The relative deprivation was not significantly different in gender and grade,but there was a significant difference in online time,that is,the relative deprivation degree of students whose online time was 5h<t ≤ 8h was significantly higher than that of students whose online time was t≤5h.(2)The difference of ego depletion in gender and grade was not significant,but the difference in online time was significant,that is,the degree of ego depletion of students with online time between 5h<t≤8h was significantly higher than that of students with t≤5h and t>8h.(3)The incidence of cyberbullying among college students was 75.62%,of which the average of direct bullying was more than twice that of indirect bullying;The cyberbullying had significant differences in online time and the interaction between grade and online time was significant,which was manifested in the fact that the cyberbullying scores of sophomores with online time between 5h<t ≤ 8h were significantly higher than those of students with online time t≤5h and t>8h,and there was no significant difference in other grades;Among students who spent 5h<t ≤ 8h,sophomores scored significantly higher on cyberbullying than freshmen,juniors,and seniors,and there was no significant difference in other online time.There were no significant differences in gender or grade level for cyberbullying.(4)There were significant differences in social support in grades and online time,specifically,junior and senior students’ social support scores were significantly higher than freshmen;Students who spent t≤5h online were significantly higher than those who spent 5h<t ≤ 8h and t>8h.There was no significant gender difference in social support.(5)Relative deprivation was significantly positively correlated with ego depletion and cyberbullying;Ego depletion was significantly positively correlated with cyberbullying;Social support was negatively correlated with relative deprivation,ego depletion and cyberbullying.(6)Relative deprivation significantly positively predicted cyberbullying among college students,and ego depletion played a partial mediating role between them.(7)Social support regulated the first half of the intermediary model and the direct path.Specifically,relative deprivation of low social supporters had a greater predictive effect on ego depletion and cyberbullying behavior than individuals with high levels of social support,there was a moderated mediation model between relative deprivation and cyberbullying.This study further revealed the mechanism of the influence of relative deprivation on the cyberbullying behavior of college students,which is significant for the prevention and intervention of college students’ cyberbullying.