The Influence Of Peer Pressure On College Students’ Cyberbullying Behavior

With the development of the Internet,cyberbullying has become a normal behavior.However,the current research on the influencing factors of cyberbullying is not perfect.On this basis,this study aims to solve two problems:(1)the influence of college students’ peer pressure on cyberbullying,and whether cyberbullying attitude plays an intermediary role;(2)how peer pressure affects cyberbullying in situational experiments.In the first study,374 college students(M=18.96,SD=0.71)in Wuhan,Hubei province were surveyed by questionnaire.The results of the questionnaire on peer pressure,cyberbullying attitude and cyberbullying behavior showed that:(1)peer pressure can directly and positively predict online bullying behavior;(2)network bullying attitude has a significant mediating effect between peer pressure and network bullying behavior,with an effect value of 35.36%The second study adopts the situational experiment method,online recruitment of 100 subjects(M=18.76,SD=0.76)finish two parts measurement.In the pretest,participants completed the asessement of experimental materials attitude,as well as the choice of behavioral intention.After a week,researsher asked participants to take part in measuring experiment,measurement experiment used 3(Severity of event)X 4(peer assessment)between the subjects of design,in which event severity(serious,medium and slightly three levels)to variable between subjects,peer assessment(low support,medium support,high support,and nonsupport four levels)are the inter-subject variables,and the cyberbullying attitude and cyberbullying behavior intention are the dependent variables.The following conclusions are obtained through the analysis of variance:(1)the higher the severity of cyberbullying,the more negative the subjects’attitude towards cyberbullying,and the more inclined they are to ignore and object.The lower the severity of cyberbullying,the more positive the subjects’ attitude towards cyberbullying was,and the more likely they were to adopt supportive behavior;(2)on the peer assessment level,the choice of attitude and behavior intention of subjects is associated with the concentration of peer evaluation.The more concentrated the peer assessment(high support,nonsupport),the greater the behavioral intention of subjects is strong,and peer evaluation is scattered(low support,medium support),the subjects of the lower the behavioral intention and the cyberbullying attitude is negative;(3)the interaction effect found that in terms of the severity level of cyberbullying,the higher the level of peer support,the more likely the subjects would adopt the behavior mode of supporting or opposing the behavior of netizens.At the medium level,the higher the level of peer dissupport,the more likely the subjects are to adopt the behavior of support or opposition.At a slight level,the higher the level of peer support,the more likely the participants were to act in a pro or con manner.The results found that peer pressure can change individual attitude and behavioral intention,so we could understand how peer pressure affects the cyberbullying attitude and cyberbullying behavior intention.Especially when most people hold the same attitude in the group,individuals according to the opinion of the group to adjust their attitude and behavioral intention,after the cyberbullying intervention provides an empirical basis,namely pay attention to the population pressure on individual values and behavior orientation.