Predicting the Cyberbullying Perpetrators' Behavior of Secondary Stage Students In the light of The Big-five Personality Factors

Abstract

Cyber bullying is a psychological attack which involves hostile behaviors in which e-mail and smart phones are used to send offensive and insulting messages or by impersonating an individual to obtain his/her personal information, exclude the individual from the social communication groups, insult others and threaten them in public. This study aimed to predict the cyberbullying perpetrators' behavior of secondary stage students in the light of the big-five personality factors. The participants of the study consisted of 279 students with an average age of 16.4 years. Cyberbullying Perpetrators' Behavior scale and The Big-five Personality Factors Inventory were used. The results showed that there is a positive correlation between the openness factor and the cyberbullying perpetrators' behavior, and a negative correlative relationship between the conscientiousness factor and the cyberbullying perpetrators' behavior. There was no relationship between extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and the cyberbullying perpetrators' behavior. In addition, the openness and conscientiousness factors are good indicators of the cyberbullying perpetrators' behavior. Moreover, males committed more cyberbullying behavior than females.