Longitudinal associations between cybervictimization, anger rumination, and cyberaggression

Abstract

Adolescents' involvement in cyberbullying has been a growing public health concern for some time. Cybervictimization and cyberaggression are two phenomena that previous research has often shown to be associated. However, longitudinal research into these associations and also into potential risk factors for these phenomena is less common. Anger rumination is a proven risk factor for aggressive behavior, but the relationship between anger rumination and victimization is not clear. The pre- sent longitudinal study investigated the associations between cybervictimization,

anger rumination and cyberbullying in a sample of 3017 adolescents (MW1 = 13.15;

SD = 1.09; 49% girls) from 7th to 9th grade. The European Cyberbullying Inter- vention Project Questionnaire and the Anger Rumination Scale were administered

in four waves with 6 months intervals over a total period of 18 months. The as- sociations between the variables were analyzed with a cross‐lagged model. We

found that: cybervictimization predicted anger rumination and cyberaggression; anger rumination was associated with later increases in both cybervictimization and cyberaggression: but involvement in cyberaggression predicted neither subsequent

involvement in cybervictimization, nor in anger rumination. In addition, cybervicti- mization was found to mediate the association between anger rumination and cy- beraggression. This study expands the understanding of the factors associated with

cybervictimization and cyberaggression, and its results indicate that intervention programs should focus on boosting self‐control to decrease impulsive behavior and protocols to prevent and intervene in cyberbullying.