Research On The Relationship Between Adolescent Celebrity Worship And Cyberbullying

Research background and purpose:Celebrity worship is widespread in our society.As early as around 2000,some entertainment websites and fan forums already existed on the Internet,as well as SMS voting talent shows represented by “Super Female Voice”.The development of social networks and entertainment industries have created new forms of celebrity worship in the age of Internet and also caused new problems at the same time.Cyberbullying may take place among young idolaters because they,being at an impressionable age,are not mature enough to make careful judgement with a critical eye about news.Against this background,it is important to explore the impact of celebrity worship on adolescents and to figure out what causes cyberbullying.Grounded on previous studies,this study was conducted in two parts to explore the relationship between celebrity worship,self-esteem,defense styles,and cyberbullying and to analyze in depth how self-esteem and defense styles affect cyberbullying among celebrity worshipers.Also,this study presented practicable and targeted approaches based on the results of the research.Materials and Methods:In the first part,the Defense Style Questionnaire were used to collect data related to the defense styles of students from a university in Sichuan.The research instruments included the DSQ and the Symptom Reporting Inventory.A total of 420 valid data were obtained for the study and the DSQ were revised using SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0.In the second part of the study,celebrity worship,self-esteem,defense styles and cyberbullying were investigated in a college,a high school and a junior high school in Sichuan.The research instruments included the Celebrityworship Attitude Scale,the Self-Esteem Scale,the 11-item Defense Style Questionnaire,and the Cyberbullying Scale,with a total of 1057 samples of valid data analyzed by using SPSS22.0.Result:1.The revised questionnaire was categorized into three factors: mature defen se styles,emotion-centered defense styles,and pathological defense styles.The fa ctor analysis results demonstrated good reliability and structural validity of the 11-item Defense Style Questionnaire with a 7-point.2.There was no gender difference in celebrity worship,but there were diffe rences in each dimension of celebrity worship.Also,there were varying levels o f celebrity worship among adolescents of different age.3.Cyberbullying behaviors in adolescents varied with variables such as gend er and patterns of celebrity worship.4.Celebrity worship among adolescents was positively correlated with pathol ogical defense styles,emotion-centered defense styles and cyberbullying.But cele brity worship and cyberbullying was negatively correlated with self-esteem and m ature defense styles.5.Celebrity worship among adolescents positively predicted the employment of pathological defense styles and emotion-centered defense styles and cyberbullyi ng behaviors,while it negatively predicted self-esteem.Self-esteem and pathologi cal defense styles played a chain mediating effect on the association between cel ebrity worship and cyberbullying.Conclusion:1.There is no significant gender difference in celebrity worship on the who le.However,it shows that college students express higher celebrity worship than students in middle school and senior high school.2.Male students are more likely to conduct cyberbullying behaviors than fe male ones.And celebrity worshipers of the empathic level and the sociable level conduct cyberbullying more than low-involvement level.3.Celebrity worship may contribute to cyberbullying directly or indirectly th rough a simple mediating effect of self-esteem and pathological defense styles or through a chain mediating effect of self-esteem and pathological defense styles.