Communication Skills, Moral Disengagement, and the Bully Role in Cyberbullying

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of moral disengagement strategies in the relationship between communication skills and the bully role in the cyberbullying process. This study used a mixed design. In the quantitative section of the study, data were collected from 551 adolescents using the bully form of the Cyberbullying Test, the Collective Moral Disengagement Scale, and the Real and Electronic Communication Skills Questionnaire, while 11 individuals were interviewed in the qualitative section. The findings obtained from the structural analysis in the study’s quantitative section showed that the moral disengagement levels of bully adolescents mediated the relationship between electronic communication skills and cyberbullying levels (β=.14, p<.05), and moral disengagement levels mediated the relationship between real communication skills and cyberbullying levels in the bully role (β=-.34, p<.05). The qualitative findings obtained by conducting content analysis within the scope of the study determined that individuals in the bully role were involved in the cyberbullying process using moral disengagement strategies under the influence of their electronic communication skills. The results were discussed with the relevant research findings.

Keywords

• cyberbullying
• moral disengagement
• communication skills
• bully role

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