The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender Difference
Recently, the phenomenon of school bullying has gradually become a primary focus of social attention. To reduce the occurrence of bullying, it is important that we explore the psychological mechanisms of students with bullying tendencies. We conducted mediation models through a multi-group analysis...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Behavioral Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/7/532 |
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| author | Fangjing Xia Mengjun Liu Tour Liu |
| author_facet | Fangjing Xia Mengjun Liu Tour Liu |
| author_sort | Fangjing Xia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recently, the phenomenon of school bullying has gradually become a primary focus of social attention. To reduce the occurrence of bullying, it is important that we explore the psychological mechanisms of students with bullying tendencies. We conducted mediation models through a multi-group analysis to verify the mediating effect of coping styles on the relationship between dark personality traits and bullying, and further explored the differences in this mechanism between male and female groups. The participants were 772 high school students recruited from a middle school in Tianjin, China. They completed a set of self-reported measurements including the Dirty Dozen (DD), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), and Reactive–Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ). All the measurement instruments have acceptable reliability and validity. The results of the multi-group multiple models indicated that (1) there are significant gender differences in bullying behavior, with males scoring significantly higher than females. Moreover, the gender difference was only reflected in proactive aggression, in which males had higher scores than females; there was no significant gender difference in reactive aggression. (2) In the group of females, both negative and positive coping styles partially moderated the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying. However, in the group of males, only negative coping styles partially mediated the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying. (3) The above results also held for proactive aggression. In conclusion, our study highlights the gender differences in the mediating effect of coping styles on the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying and proactive aggression. These findings contribute to better shared understanding of gender-related aspects in school bullying. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:18:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9a208c67b2bf45b0881e251c8de5cc2d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-328X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:18:47Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioral Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-9a208c67b2bf45b0881e251c8de5cc2d2023-11-18T18:19:30ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2023-06-0113753210.3390/bs13070532The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender DifferenceFangjing Xia0Mengjun Liu1Tour Liu2School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, ChinaFaculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, ChinaFaculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, ChinaRecently, the phenomenon of school bullying has gradually become a primary focus of social attention. To reduce the occurrence of bullying, it is important that we explore the psychological mechanisms of students with bullying tendencies. We conducted mediation models through a multi-group analysis to verify the mediating effect of coping styles on the relationship between dark personality traits and bullying, and further explored the differences in this mechanism between male and female groups. The participants were 772 high school students recruited from a middle school in Tianjin, China. They completed a set of self-reported measurements including the Dirty Dozen (DD), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), and Reactive–Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ). All the measurement instruments have acceptable reliability and validity. The results of the multi-group multiple models indicated that (1) there are significant gender differences in bullying behavior, with males scoring significantly higher than females. Moreover, the gender difference was only reflected in proactive aggression, in which males had higher scores than females; there was no significant gender difference in reactive aggression. (2) In the group of females, both negative and positive coping styles partially moderated the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying. However, in the group of males, only negative coping styles partially mediated the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying. (3) The above results also held for proactive aggression. In conclusion, our study highlights the gender differences in the mediating effect of coping styles on the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying and proactive aggression. These findings contribute to better shared understanding of gender-related aspects in school bullying.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/7/532Dark Triadbullyingcoping stylesaggressiongender differences |
| spellingShingle | Fangjing Xia Mengjun Liu Tour Liu The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender Difference Behavioral Sciences Dark Triad bullying coping styles aggression gender differences |
| title | The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender Difference |
| title_full | The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender Difference |
| title_fullStr | The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender Difference |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender Difference |
| title_short | The Role of Coping Styles in Mediating the Dark Triad and Bullying: An Analysis of Gender Difference |
| title_sort | role of coping styles in mediating the dark triad and bullying an analysis of gender difference |
| topic | Dark Triad bullying coping styles aggression gender differences |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/7/532 |
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