Cyberbullying among adolescents in Turkey: the relationship between coping strategies and cyberbullying perpetration

Cyberbullying is becoming a global threat with the ease of access to the internet. Although many studies addressed the relationship between coping strategies and cyber victimization, the role of coping strategies, protective or risk factors, on involvement in cyberbullying perpetration is unclear. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the effect of active, avoidant, and negative coping strategies and the sociodemographic variables (i.e., parents' education, gender, and family income) on cyberbullying perpetration behaviors.

The study was conducted on 1032 adolescents (mean age = 16.01 years; range = 14-18 years), 608 (58.9%) were female, and 424 (41.1%) were male. Personal Information Form, Cyberbullying Scale, and Coping Scale for Adolescents (the KIDCOPE) were used in data collection. Multiple regression analysis was performed for data analysis.

The study's findings revealed that active coping strategy (β = -.26, p < .001) was a protective factor for cyberbullying perpetration behaviors, whereas avoidant (β = .31, p < .001) and negative coping (β = .32, p < .001) strategies and the mother's education (β = .10, p < .001) were risk factors. However, the study results showed that gender (β = -.01, p > .05), family income (β = .03, p > .05), and the father's education (β = .01, p > .05) were not predicting factors of cyberbullying perpetration behaviors.

The results are discussed in light of the relevant literature and presented some theoretical and practical implications.