Parental psychological control and adolescent cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration: the mediating roles of avoidance motivation and revenge motivation

This study aims to (1) explore adolescents’ online behaviours and experiences of cyberbullying, (2) examine the associations between parental psychological control and cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration, after controlling for age and positive parenting, and (3) further examine the mediating effects of avoidance and revenge motivation on the associations between parenting and cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration. Participants were 853 adolescents (mean age = 12.86) in Taiwan. The results reveal that psychological control is associated with both cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration. Avoidance partially mediated the relationship between psychological control and victimisation, whereas revenge fully mediated the association between psychological control and cyberbullying perpetration. Clinical implications are suggested to address both individual and contextual factors for prevention and intervention of cyberbullying.