How Do Cyber Victimization and Low Core Self-Evaluations Interrelate in Predicting Adolescent Problematic Technology Use?

María Angeles Peláez-Fernández, María Teresa Chamizo-Nieto, Lourdes Rey and Natalio Extremera
Additional contact information
María Angeles Peláez-Fernández: Department of Social Psychology, Social Work, Social Anthropology and East Asian Studies, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
María Teresa Chamizo-Nieto: Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
Lourdes Rey: Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
Natalio Extremera: Department of Social Psychology, Social Work, Social Anthropology and East Asian Studies, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: Research has demonstrated that cyber victimization is consistently associated with higher problem behaviors such as problematic technology use. However, little research has examined specific individual dispositions that can serve as a buffer in the link between cyber victimization and higher problematic uses of technology (i.e., problematic Internet, smartphone, and social media), such as core self-evaluations (CSE). A convenience sample of 1211 high school students, 657 females, 554 males, aged 12 to 18 (mean age = 13.74) completed measures of cyber victimization, CSE, and different problematic technology-related behaviors. Results of correlational analysis revealed significant associations between cyber victimization and all problematic uses of technology. Our findings also suggested that high CSE weakened the relationship between cyber victimization and two of the three problematic uses of technology. Consistent with social compensation theory, cyber victimization was concurrently linked to different problematic uses of technology. Low CSE also strengthened the link between cyber victimization and problems use of smartphones and social media and also showed a marginally significant interaction with cyber victimization in predicting problematic Internet use. Implications of these preliminary findings are discussed and avenues for further research are offered.

Keywords: problematic technology use; cyber victimization; core self-evaluations; anxiety; stress; buffering effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3114/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/3114/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:6:p:3114-:d:519393

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().