Relation Between Negative Life Events on Adolescents' Cyberbullying Perpetration——Roles of Anger Rumination and Online Disinhibition

To explore the effect of negative life events on cyberbullying perpetration and the role of anger rumination and online disinhibition in the relation, a sample of 610 adolescents completed questionnaires regarding life events, cyberbullying perpetration, anger rumination, and online disinhibition. The findings revealed that adolescents who experienced higher negative life events were more likely to bully others online. Anger rumination significantly mediated the relation between negative life events and cyberbullying perpetration. Online disinhibition significantly moderated the relation between anger rumination and cyberbullying perpetration. Specifically, for adolescents with a high level of online disinhibition, anger rumination was significantly linked with cyberbullying perpetration. However, this relation became much weaker for adolescents with low online disinhibition. The present study provides a new perspective on interventions to reduce adolescents' cyberbullying perpetration.