The role of Internet addiction and self-disclosure in predicting cyberbullying in students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of Internet addiction and self-disclosure in predicting cyberbullying in students. In this research, 400 second-grade students in Ardabil were selected through cluster sampling and filled in the Internet addiction questionnaire (Young, 1996), cyberbullying questionnaire (Lam & Li, 2013) and self-disclosure questionnaire (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007).The results revealed that there was a significant relationship between cyberbullying and cyber victimization among internet addicts. There was also a significant relationship between online self-disclosure and cyberbullying and cyber victimization. The results of stepwise regression showed that online addiction and self-disclosure alone accounted for 39% of cyberbullying variance and 10% of cyber victimization. According to these results, the role of online self-disclosure and Internet addiction as a predictor of cyberbullying and cyber victimization should be given special attention. The findings have important implications for professionals, authorities and families who play a vital role in managing the cyberspace of their children.