Social support and cyberbullying for university students: The mediating role of internet addiction and the moderating role of stress

Although social support has been shown to play an important role in cyberbullying, little is known about the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relation. Based on the interpersonal perspective on aggression, the theory of compensatory Internet use, the problem behavior theory, and the stress-vulnerability hypothesis, the present study examined whether Internet addiction mediated the relationship between social support and cyberbullying, and whether the first stage of this mediating process as well as the direct association between social support and cyberbullying was moderated by stress. The theoretical model was tested using data collected from 1067 Chinese university students (M-age = 20.22 years, SD = 1.45). Participants completed anonymous questionnaires assessing their social support, Internet addiction, cyberbullying as well as stress level. Results indicated that Internet addiction partially mediated the association between social support and cyberbullying. Stress played a moderating role in the first stage. Specifically, the effect of social support on Internet addiction was significant only for university students under low stress. Results highlight the significance of identifying the mechanisms that moderate the mediated paths between social support and cyberbullying of young adults.