The Association between Appetitive Aggression and Social Media Addiction Mediated by Cyberbullying: The Moderating Role of Inclusive Norms

Natalie Wong, Takuya Yanagida (), Christiane Spiel and Daniel Graf
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Natalie Wong: Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Takuya Yanagida: Department for Psychology of Development and Education, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Christiane Spiel: Department for Psychology of Development and Education, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Daniel Graf: Department for Psychology of Development and Education, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-14

Abstract: Appetitive aggression, i.e., the motivation to obtain rewards through aggressive behaviors, has been suggested as a key driver of cyberbullying. Due to the contextual properties of cyberspace (e.g., anonymity), it is assumed that the negative effects of cyberbullying are masked, leading to a preponderance of its positive outcomes (e.g., thrill). Since cyberbullying occurs predominantly in social media, reward-learning effects may lead to problematic social media use, such as addiction. Anti-cyberbullying inclusive norms might act as a buffering factor to break this chain. However, while inclusive norms are known to reduce cyberbullying in general, their influence on the indirect effect of appetitive aggression via cyberbullying on social media addiction is yet unknown. The present study examined this indirect effect, while taking the moderating role of inclusive norms into account. A total of 1064 adolescents (42.05% male, M age = 14.07, SD = 2.15) completed questionnaires. Results revealed the indirect effect of appetitive aggression on social media addiction through cyberbullying as expected. Surprisingly, this indirect effect was amplified with increasing anti-cyberbullying inclusive norms. Our findings indicate that appetitive aggression, which manifests in cyberbullying, contributes to the development of social media addiction. The unexpected results and the implications of our findings were discussed.

Keywords: appetitive aggression; cyberbullying; social media addiction; inclusive norms; adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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