Factors predicting cyber aggression victimization mediated by internet addiction among urban youth in the Klang Valley, Malaysia

Undeniably, the usage of the Internet and other related technologies has never been without any consequences. A new form of abusing someone online, commonly referred to as cyber aggression, has become a new growing problem in today’s society; it offers convenient opportunities to humiliate, bully, or harass another person online. Global studies on cyber aggression found that youths who were aggressed online are reported feeling depressed, anxious, afraid, poor academic performance, eating disorders, and substance abuse usage such as drugs and alcohol. According to experts, this phenomenon becomes insidious when the behaviour develops into a form of psychological cruelty and in some extreme cases, those consequences can lead victims to suffer from severe mental illness and the worst, when it ends with committing suicide. The renowned general aggression model (GAM) and media system dependency (MSD) theories were integrated to develop a holistic theoretical foundation into the study framework. Therefore, it is important for this study to identify the variables that significantly affect the incidents of cyber aggression victimization among youths in order to reduce the prevalence of the incidents. Previous studies have discussed in details that the personal and situational factors of the GAM may influence the experience of victimization among youths and adolescents, and the MSD may be useful to understand the behavior occurs in the cyber space. On that account, the main aims of this study are to investigate the interrelationships among predictor factors (peer attachment, parent’s attachment, Internet exposure, self-esteem, and narcissistic personality); mediating factor (Internet addiction) and moderating factor (gender) on cyber aggression in the context of victimization among youths. A sample of 430 urban youths (231 male and 199 female) aged from 13 to 18 years were randomly selected from four districts in Klang Valley. Data were gathered through a self-report questionnaire and later analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. Two types of data analyses were conducted; first, the descriptive analysis to identify the pattern and levels of all the related variables, and second, the inferential analysis is performed using structural equation modelling (SEM) to test nine hypotheses drawn from the research model. This study revealed several noteworthy findings; first, it was found that the majority of respondents were using the Internet approximately 7 to 21 hours per day especially during weekends. The main purpose of engaging themselves during those hours is socializing in social media, followed by entertainment and playing online games. Second, this study discovered relatively significant number of youth had been engaged with cyber victimization through the act of aggression compared to the other local studies. The main forms of victimizing someone online are the written-verbal and online exclusion. Third, the SEM analysis indicated the Internet exposure is the strongest predictor that associated with cyber aggression victimization. Fourth, the bootstrapping analysis showed Internet addiction as the significant mediator factor between parental attachment, Internet exposure and cyber aggression victimization. Fifth, gender does not moderate the relationship between predictors and cyber aggression victimization. Finally, this study confirmed all the predictors jointly explained 21% of the variance in cyber aggression victimization. Based on these findings, the implications and recommendations for future investigations with reference to the current theoretical framework and empirical findings on cyber aggression victimization are thoroughly discussed.

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