Cyberbullying and cybervictimization among preadolescents: Does time perspective matter?

Abstract

Time perspective has been recognized as an important psychological dimension with a pervasive and powerful influence on human behavior. To the authors' knowledge, no studies have focused on the relationship between time perspective and cyberbullying behavior. The first aim of this research is to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between different time perspectives and both cyberbullying and cybervictimization among 6th to 8th grade students. The second objective was to investigate the relationship between time perspective, cyberbullying behaviors, peer problems, and the quality of relationship with teachers. A sample consisting of 403 students aged between 11 and 14 years from Italian middle schools (56% females, mean age = 12.2 years) were recruited. Participants filled in a self-report questionnaire measuring cyberbullying and cybervictimization as well as the Time Perspective questionnaire. The analyses showed the presence of significant correlations between time perspective and both cyberbullying and cybervictimization. In particular, cybervictimization showed a quite large positive correlation with a past-negative orientation and a negative correlation with past-positive orientation. Instead, the involvement in active cyberbullying was positively correlated with a past-negative orientation and negatively correlated with future orientation. The findings advance the understanding of psychological factors influencing cyberbullying during early adolescence and suggest the importance of past-positive and past-negative orientations in accounting for both active cyberbullying and cybervictimization. As expected, future orientation appeared to represent a protective factor against involvement in cyberbullying behaviors.

Cyberbullying in elementary and middle school students: A systematic review

“…These results are in line with previous research including high school graders (DeSmet et al, 2019;Kowalski et al, 2014). Moreover, middle school students' active involvement in CB perpetration was negatively correlated with future orientation (Longobardi et al, 2020). In this sense, school-based prevention efforts may benefit from focusing on students' future orientations to protect against involvement in CB (Nocentini et al, 2010).…”

Effects of Cybervictimization on the Mental Health of Primary School Students

“…Among this group of children, being a cybervictim implied higher scores in conduct problems and Externalizing problems (which, in addition to conduct problems, include hyperactivity/inattention problems). Prior studies had reported significant positive correlations between cybervictimization and externalizing symptoms as measured by the SDQ ( 28 ). Our study has confirmed this relationship in primary school children who do not suffer traditional bullying, although we cannot say whether these problems already occurred before suffering cyberbullying.…”

Assessing Cyberbullying in Adolescence: New Evidence for the Spanish Version of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIP-Q)

“…These results coincide with those found in other studies [ 88 , 89 , 90 ] that indicate that cybervictims and cyberbullies show less social competence. Other investigations that use the SDQ, developed by Sidera et al [ 49 ] and by Longobardi et al [ 37 ], confirm the relationship between being a victim of school cyberbullying and suffering emotional and behavioral problems. Through the SDQ, Kaiser et al [ 91 ] also found that cybervictims present more emotional and behavioral problems than non-victims, and that cyberbullies show greater prosocial behavior than victims.…”

“…Furthermore, no research analyzing the relationship between profiles (victim or aggressor) evaluated using the ECIP-Q and other variables associated with cyberbullying has been found. Recent studies that use other questionnaires to evaluate cyberbullying show that both student victims [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ] and aggressors [ 16 , 37 , 38 ] present symptoms of depression and antisocial behavior [ 39 ]. Some authors consider that school cyberbullying can generate a greater psychosocial maladjustment in the victims than that caused by face-to-face bullying [ 33 , 40 ] due to the aforementioned characteristics: large audience, anonymity of the bully, or the unlimited nature of the harassment [ 41 ].…”