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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Anxiety and Stress Disorders
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1497407

The Relationship Between Childhood Psychological Abuse and Cyberbullying Behavior among Graduate Students: The Mediating Role of Negative Coping Style and Trait Anxiety

Provisionally accepted
Yi Shen Yi Shen *
  • College of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: As a major public health problem, cyberbullying has been received widespread attention in recent years. However, most researches on cyberbullying are mainly focused on adolescents and college students, the underlying mechanisms of cyberbullying among graduate students have been relatively less investigated. From the perspectives of the general aggression model and attachment theory, this study aims to explore the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying behavior among graduate students, as well as the mediating roles of negative coping style and trait anxiety.A total of 482 graduate students were surveyed using measures including the Childhood Psychological Abuse Scale, Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, and Cyberbullying Behavior Scale.(1) There were significant positive correlations between childhood psychological abuse, negative coping style, trait anxiety, and graduate students' cyberbullying behavior; (2) Childhood psychological abuse could forecast graduate students' cyberbullying behavior through the mediating effects of negative coping style and trait anxiety. This mediation process includes two pathways: the independent mediating effect of negative coping style and the chained mediating effect of negative coping style and trait anxiety.Negative coping style and trait anxiety play mediating roles in the relationship between childhood psychological abuse and cyberbullying behavior among graduate students.

    Keywords: graduate student, childhood psychological abuse, negative coping style, trait anxiety, cyberbullying

    Received: 17 Sep 2024; Accepted: 13 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yi Shen, College of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China

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