A number of dark personality traits (e.g., psychopathy and sadism) have been shown to predict cyber aggression perpetration among emerging adults; however, trait anger and moral disengagement, both useful in understanding other forms of aggression, have not typically been included in these models. The present study tested a model in which dark personality traits and trait anger were expected to predict cyber aggression perpetration and moral disengagement was expected to partially mediate these relationships. Emerging adult volunteers (N = 404; 41% men, 59% women) between 18 and 29 (M = 25.16, SD = 2.76) recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk completed an online survey assessing the variables of interest. Structural equation modeling showed that sadism (β = 0.450, p < .001), psychopathy (β = 0.118, p = .035), and anger (β = 0.099, p = .007) predicted cyber aggression perpetration when taking respondent sex and college enrollment into account, indicating a small effect for anger and psychopathy and a medium effect for sadism. Moral disengagement partially mediated these relationships (24.11% for sadism, 37.23% for psychopathy, and 29.79% for anger). Both trait anger and moral disengagement may be useful in preventing cyber aggression and informing the development of clinical interventions for perpetrators (e.g., anger management, moral reasoning training, improving distress tolerance). This study adds to the literature on personality traits and cyber aggression among emerging adults.

The Internet has given rise to many new communication tools (e.g., social media, text messaging), which, while beneficial in many respects, have become a means for aggressing against others. As evidence of the adverse correlates of cyber aggression mounts, improved understanding of the mechanisms that facilitate electronic aggression is needed. Moral disengagement (i.e., cognitive processes through which individuals disengage from their moral values) has been shown to predict cyber aggression when assessed as a unitary construct. The present study investigated the eight moral disengagement mechanisms measured by the Moral Disengagement Measure (Detert et al., 2008) and their relationships to four types of cyber aggression perpetration assessed with the Cyberbullying Experiences Survey (i.e., malice, public humiliation, deception, and unwanted contact; Doane et al., 2013). Emerging adults (N = 404, 58.67% women) aged 18 to 29 (M = 25.16, SD = 2.76) recruited through Amazon.com’s MTurk website completed measures online, and data were analyzed via path analysis. Each type of cyber aggression perpetration was predicted by different moral disengagement mechanisms. Advantageous comparison and dehumanization were the strongest predictors, and dehumanization was the only mechanism to predict all forms of cyber aggression. These findings provide support for the role of these mechanisms in cyber aggression and suggest that examining moral disengagement mechanisms individually may help to improve our understanding of cyber aggression among emerging adults. Further clinical and research implications are discussed.

Despite evidence supporting the importance of cyber aggression among early adolescents (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015), we know less about its correlates among college students. The present study examined the relationships of Dark Triad personality traits to cyber aggression in a college student sample (N = 297). Machiavellian, narcissistic (both grandiose and vulnerable forms), and psychopathic traits positively related to cyber aggression perpetration. A hierarchical multiple regression including gender, age, and Dark Triad traits found that only the erratic lifestyle component of psychopathic traits explained unique variance in cyber aggression perpetration. Gender did not moderate the relationships between Dark Triad traits and cyber aggression. These findings add to the literature on cyber aggression among college students, suggesting that psychopathic traits are a useful predictor.

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