ABSTRACT

The psychological consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic are just now starting to be understood; however, the behavioral consequences are less understood. Thus, the current report examined whether cyberbullying processes and frequency are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We compared US adult participant data from six months before the start of the pandemic (July 2019; n = 181) to data collected in the middle of the pandemic (May, 2020; n = 173) to determine if there are any significant differences in anonymity perceptions, belief in the irrelevance of muscularity for online bullying (BIMOB), cyberbullying attitudes, and cyberbullying perpetration. Results showed that there were significant increases in BIMOB, cyberbullying attitudes, and cyberbullying perpetration during the pandemic, but no significant change for anonymity perceptions. Further, the relationships between several variables germane to cyberbullying perpetration prediction were stronger during the pandemic than before. Overall, these findings add to our understanding of the behavioral impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on US adults.

摘要

人们才刚刚开始了解全球 COVID-19 大流行的心理后果；然而，人们对行为后果的了解较少。因此，当前的报告检查了网络欺凌的过程和频率是否受到 COVID-19 大流行的影响。我们将大流行开始前六个月（2019 年 7 月；n = 181）的美国成人参与者数据与大流行中期（2020 年 5 月；n = 173）收集的数据进行比较，以确定在匿名观念、相信肌肉与在线欺凌 (BIMOB) 无关、网络欺凌态度和网络欺凌行为。结果表明，大流行期间 BIMOB、网络欺凌态度和网络欺凌行为显着增加，但匿名感知没有显着变化。此外，与网络欺凌行为预测密切相关的几个变量之间的关系在大流行期间比以前更强。总的来说，这些发现增加了我们对 COVID-19 大流行对美国成年人行为影响的理解。