The moderating effect of the perception of cyber violence on the influence of exposure to violent online media on cyber offending in Korean adolescents

• Published in: School psychology international Vol. 42; no. 4; pp. 450 - 461
• Main Author: Bae, Sung-Man
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-08-2021; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescents; Age Differences; Aggression; Attitudes; Beliefs; Correlation; Cyberbullying; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Handheld Devices; High School Students; Juvenile offenders; Mass Media Effects; Middle School Students; Offending; Social Media; Student Attitudes; Teenagers; Telecommunications; Victims; Violence; South Korea; moderating effect; exposure to violent media; adolescents; cyber violence; perception of cyber violence
• ISSN: 0143-0343; 1461-7374
• DOI: 10.1177/01430343211006766

The aim of this study was to verify the moderating effect of the relationship between exposure to violent online media and cyber offending in adolescents. The study utilized information from the 2019 cyber violence survey; data from 3,202 adolescents (mean age = 16.56, SD = 1.71; boys = 1,800, girls = 1,402) were used for the final analysis. The moderating effect was analyzed using PROCESS Macro 3.4 (model 1), and the main results revealed that exposure to violent online media had a positive effect on cyber offending, while the perception of cyber violence had a negative influence on cyber offending. Specifically, the effect of exposure to violent online media on cyber offending was moderated by the perception of cyber violence. As a result of simple regression to verify the conditional effect according to the level of perception of cyber violence, cyber violence increased as exposure to violent online media increased in all level perceptions of violence (−1SD, M, +1SD). This study implies the need for education to raise awareness that cyber violence is dangerous and illegal along with supervision from parents and schools to reduce exposure to risky online media in order to prevent adolescents’ cyber violence.