How is online disinhibition related to adolescents’ cyberbullying perpetration? Empathy and gender as moderators
Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between online disinhibition and adolescents’ cyberbullying perpetration and investigated whether empathy and gender would moderate this relationship. A total of 2407 Chinese adolescents aged 11–16 years completed the questionnaires to measure their online disinhibition, empathy, and cyberbullying perpetration. Results indicated that high levels of online disinhibition were associated with high levels of cyberbullying perpetration, even after controlling for key covariates related to cyberbullying perpetration. Empathy significantly moderated the relationship between online disinhibition and cyberbullying perpetration. Specifically, this relationship was not significant at high levels of empathy. Moreover, the impact of empathy was moderated by gender. For male adolescents, online disinhibition was significantly associated with cyberbullying perpetration only when their empathy was low. For female adolescents, the relationship between online disinhibition and cyberbullying perpetration became nonsignificant, regardless of whether they had a low or high level of empathy.
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Anonymity feeds into the disinhibitory effect and is linked to increased cyberbullying perpetration.
“Thus, anonymity feeds into the disinhibitory effect (32) and consistent with previous research is linked to increased cyberbullying perpetration (22, 33–36, 38, 106).”
From A thematic analysis of adolescents’ perceptions of cyberbullying and cyberaggression: definitional distinctions and educational gaps (2026) · cites this paper as [36]
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References 84 · Cited by 39
- Authors
- Wang, X., Qiao, Y., Li, W., & Dong, W.
- Affiliations
- Shanxi University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Xingchao
- Venue
- The Journal of Early Adolescence
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-12-09
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 704-732
- ISSN
- 0272-4316 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-5449
- OpenAlex
- W4200204028
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 3.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Early Adolescence (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Program for the Innovative Talents of Higher Education Institutions of Shanx
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection
- Keywords
- online disinhibition effect, cyberbullying perpetration, empathy, gender differences, moderating effect, adolescents, Chinese adolescents
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