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Sex-specific psychological mechanisms of cyber reactive aggression: evidence from Chinese college students
Qian-Nan Ruan1, Fei-Rui Ni1, Ru-Ying Yu2
1Wenzhou Depression Specialty Center, Wenzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.
Abstract:
This study investigated sex-specific psychological mechanisms underlying cyber reactive aggression (CRA) among Chinese college students, addressing a critical gap in understanding how trait anger (TA), hostile attribution bias (HAB), and revenge motivation (RM) differently influence male and female online aggressive behaviors. Using convenience sampling, we collected data from 926 students (371 males, 555 females) across 12 universities in China. Network analysis with mgm package revealed distinct sex-specific patterns: male participants showed strong TA-HAB and RM-CRA associations, while female participants exhibited prominent HAB-CRA relationships. Notably, maternal education levels were positively associated with aggressive behavior in both sexes (males: weight = 0.22; females: weight = 0.14), while left-behind experiences uniquely was associated with higher HAB in males (weight = 0.55). Multi-group structural equation modeling further validated these sex-specific pathways: TA was significantly associated with CRA in both sexes (males: β = 0.40, p < 0.001; females: β = 0.44, p < 0.001), with both HAB and RM mediating the TA-CRA relationship in males, while only HAB served as a significant mediator in females. These findings advance our theoretical understanding of sex-specific aggression mechanisms in digital contexts and suggest that intervention strategies should be tailored differently for male and female college students.
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