IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v180y2026ics0190740925005808.html

Peer attachment and cyberbullying perpetration in adolescents: Examining interpersonal sensitivity and traditional bullying victimization as sequential mediators and parental monitoring as a moderator

Author

Listed:
  • Cheng, Yuhang
  • Jiang, Shan

Abstract

Peers exert a substantial influence on the cyberbullying involvement of children and adolescents. However, current evidence that explores the relationship between peer attachment and cyberbullying perpetration remains rare, and even less is known about the underlying mechanism of this association. Aiming to address these research gaps, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 2001), which examined the relationship between peer attachment, interpersonal sensitivity, traditional bullying victimization, parental monitoring, and cyberbullying perpetration. The results indicated that interpersonal sensitivity and traditional bullying victimization fully mediated the association between peer attachment and cyberbullying perpetration, not only respectively but also through a sequential mediating pathway. Moreover, parental monitoring moderated the association between interpersonal sensitivity and cyberbullying perpetration, but it did not significantly moderate the relationship between traditional bullying victimization and cyberbullying perpetration in our conceptual framework. Based on these findings, practical intervention suggestions were discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheng, Yuhang & Jiang, Shan, 2026. "Peer attachment and cyberbullying perpetration in adolescents: Examining interpersonal sensitivity and traditional bullying victimization as sequential mediators and parental monitoring as a moderator," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:180:y:2026:i:c:s0190740925005808
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740925005808
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108697?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim, Yi Jin & Moon, Sung Seek & Kim, Youn Kyoung & Boyas, Javier, 2020. "Protective factors of suicide: Religiosity and parental monitoring," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    2. Donna Cross & Leanne Lester & Natasha Pearce & Amy Barnes & Shelley Beatty, 2018. "A group randomized controlled trial evaluating parent involvement in whole-school actions to reduce bullying," The Journal of Educational Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 111(3), pages 255-267, May.
    3. Yuhang Cheng & Shan Jiang, 2024. "Peer Relationship Problems, Fear of Missing Out, Family Affective Responsiveness, and Internet Addiction among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(5), pages 2227-2244, October.
    4. Michelle F. Wright & Ikuko Aoyama & Shanmukh V. Kamble & Zheng Li & Shruti Soudi & Li Lei & Chang Shu, 2015. "Peer Attachment and Cyber Aggression Involvement among Chinese, Indian, and Japanese Adolescents," Societies, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Muthanna Samara & Vicky Burbidge & Aiman El Asam & Mairéad Foody & Peter K. Smith & Hisham Morsi, 2017. "Bullying and Cyberbullying: Their Legal Status and Use in Psychological Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Yinghan Dong & Fangfang Liu & Yingjie Jiang & Siyuan Wei, 2022. "Neuroticism and Aggressive Behavior among Left-Behind Children: The Mediating Roles of Interpersonal Sensitivity and Bullying Victimization," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-12, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elisa Larrañaga & Santiago Yubero & Raúl Navarro, 2018. "Parents’ Responses to Coping with Bullying: Variations by Adolescents’ Self-Reported Victimization and Parents’ Awareness of Bullying Involvement," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-11, July.
    2. Yang, Jiping & Wang, Na & Gao, Ling & Wang, Xingchao, 2021. "Deviant peer affiliation and adolescents’ cyberbullying perpetration: Online disinhibition and perceived social support as moderators," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Muthanna Samara & Bruna Da Silva Nascimento & Aiman El-Asam & Sara Hammuda & Nabil Khattab, 2021. "How Can Bullying Victimisation Lead to Lower Academic Achievement? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Mediating Role of Cognitive-Motivational Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Cho, Hae-seon & Bae, Sung-Man, 2024. "The moderated mediating effect of community integration in depressive symptoms which are related to childhood adversity and suicide attempts by adolescents who have dropped out of school," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    5. Seung-ha Lee & Hyun-jung Ju, 2019. "Mothers’ Difficulties and Expectations for Intervention of Bullying among Young Children in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-24, March.
    6. Muthanna Samara & Nura Alkathiri & Mahitab Sherif & Aiman El-Asam & Sara Hammuda & Peter K. Smith & Hisham Morsi, 2024. "Bullying in the Arab World: Definition, Perception, and Implications for Public Health and Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(3), pages 1-24, March.
    7. Jesús F. Estévez & Elizabeth Cañas & Estefanía Estévez, 2020. "The Impact of Cybervictimization on Psychological Adjustment in Adolescence: Analyzing the Role of Emotional Intelligence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-12, May.
    8. Fani Radebe & Michael Kyobe, 2021. "The Response of Social Crime Prevention Police to Cyberbullying Perpetrated by Youth in Rural Areas of South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-21, December.
    9. Xie, Xiaochun & Guo, Qingtong & Wang, Pengcheng, 2021. "Childhood parental neglect and adolescent internet gaming disorder: From the perspective of a distal—proximal—process—outcome model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    10. Sun, Zhaoxing & Ding, Wan & Li, Jiayi & Xie, Ruibo, 2025. "Retrospective Childhood Emotional Maltreatment and Adolescent Problem Behaviors Trajectories: The Mediating Roles of Neuroticism and Self-Compassion," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    11. Shunyu Li & Kelare Ainiwaer & Yuxuan Zhang, 2024. "The relationship between childhood trauma and cyberbullying: a meta-analysis of mainland Chinese adolescents and young adults," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:180:y:2026:i:c:s0190740925005808. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.