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Understanding the Perpetuation of Cyberbullying Victimization in Adolescents: The Role of Executive Functions

The consequences of cyberbullying victimization can lead to its perpetuation over time, initiating a vicious cycle. Thus, it is important to identify the factors that contribute to the persistence of victimization. This study aimed to examine some longitudinal mechanisms involved in the perpetuation...

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Autores principales: Morea, Aida, Calvete, Esther
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9606089/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35438446
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802-022-00926-0
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author Morea, Aida
Calvete, Esther
author_facet Morea, Aida
Calvete, Esther
author_sort Morea, Aida
collection PubMed
description The consequences of cyberbullying victimization can lead to its perpetuation over time, initiating a vicious cycle. Thus, it is important to identify the factors that contribute to the persistence of victimization. This study aimed to examine some longitudinal mechanisms involved in the perpetuation of cyberbullying victimization in adolescents. The secondary aim was to study the protective role of executive functions (cognitive flexibility and selective attention) in this process, filling a gap in the literature. Sex differences were also studied. The sample consisted of 698 adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age (M = 14.59, SD = 1.36; 40.83% girls) from the Basque Country (Spain). Adolescents participated in a longitudinal study with three waves, in which 5–6 months elapsed between waves. The participants completed measures of executive functions in wave 1, of cyberbullying perpetration and depressive symptoms in waves 1 and 2, and of cyberbullying victimization in all three waves. The findings indicated that cyberbullying victimization was perpetuated through an increase of cyberbullying perpetration and depressive symptoms. Concerning executive functions, cognitive flexibility attenuated the impact of cyberbullying victimization on cyberbullying perpetration and depressive symptoms, and these in turn predicted lower levels of future victimization. Sex differences revealed that selective attention acted as a risk factor for cyberbullying victimization in girls and as a protective factor in boys. The results highlight the importance of considering mediating mechanisms involved in the perpetuation of cyberbullying victimization as well as the beneficial role played by cognitive flexibility in reducing the stability of cyberbullying victimization. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10802-022-00926-0.
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spelling pubmed-96060892022-10-28 Understanding the Perpetuation of Cyberbullying Victimization in Adolescents: The Role of Executive Functions Morea, Aida Calvete, Esther Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol Article The consequences of cyberbullying victimization can lead to its perpetuation over time, initiating a vicious cycle. Thus, it is important to identify the factors that contribute to the persistence of victimization. This study aimed to examine some longitudinal mechanisms involved in the perpetuation of cyberbullying victimization in adolescents. The secondary aim was to study the protective role of executive functions (cognitive flexibility and selective attention) in this process, filling a gap in the literature. Sex differences were also studied. The sample consisted of 698 adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age (M = 14.59, SD = 1.36; 40.83% girls) from the Basque Country (Spain). Adolescents participated in a longitudinal study with three waves, in which 5–6 months elapsed between waves. The participants completed measures of executive functions in wave 1, of cyberbullying perpetration and depressive symptoms in waves 1 and 2, and of cyberbullying victimization in all three waves. The findings indicated that cyberbullying victimization was perpetuated through an increase of cyberbullying perpetration and depressive symptoms. Concerning executive functions, cognitive flexibility attenuated the impact of cyberbullying victimization on cyberbullying perpetration and depressive symptoms, and these in turn predicted lower levels of future victimization. Sex differences revealed that selective attention acted as a risk factor for cyberbullying victimization in girls and as a protective factor in boys. The results highlight the importance of considering mediating mechanisms involved in the perpetuation of cyberbullying victimization as well as the beneficial role played by cognitive flexibility in reducing the stability of cyberbullying victimization. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10802-022-00926-0. Springer US 2022-04-19 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9606089/ /pubmed/35438446 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802-022-00926-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Morea, Aida
Calvete, Esther
Understanding the Perpetuation of Cyberbullying Victimization in Adolescents: The Role of Executive Functions
title Understanding the Perpetuation of Cyberbullying Victimization in Adolescents: The Role of Executive Functions
title_full Understanding the Perpetuation of Cyberbullying Victimization in Adolescents: The Role of Executive Functions
title_fullStr Understanding the Perpetuation of Cyberbullying Victimization in Adolescents: The Role of Executive Functions
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the Perpetuation of Cyberbullying Victimization in Adolescents: The Role of Executive Functions
title_short Understanding the Perpetuation of Cyberbullying Victimization in Adolescents: The Role of Executive Functions
title_sort understanding the perpetuation of cyberbullying victimization in adolescents: the role of executive functions
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9606089/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35438446
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802-022-00926-0
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