The Mediating Process of Social Learning in Cyberspace: Korean College Students’ Cyberbullying

Abstract

Given the massive power of the virtual environment of online networks, the prevalence of cyberbullying and the misuse of information technology continue to increase with the development of more advanced information technology. This study investigated the process of cyberbullying in social media among the Korean college student population. The researchers sought to examine the effect of social structural factors on cyberbullying that are mediated by social learning (differential association, differential reinforcement, definitions, and imitation). A multistage cluster sampling technique was used to implement the in-class self-report survey of 711 undergraduate students from two Korean universities. Using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, the results indicated that the social learning constructs of differential association, differential reinforcement, definitions, and imitation substantially mediated the effect of the sociodemographic factors of age and gender on cyberbullying among Korean college students.