A large body of literature has identified the problematic Internet use as a risk factor for cyberbullying perpetration. Nevertheless, the studies on protective factors that may moderate this relationship are still scarce. The purpose of the present study was to examine if the emotional intelligence is a moderator in the relationship between problematic Internet use and cyberbullying perpetration. A total of 2039 Spanish adolescents between 12 to 18 years filled out three self-report questionnaires to evaluate these variables. Results indicated that cyberbullying perpetration was positively associated with problematic Internet use and negatively with emotional intelligence. On the other hand, problematic Internet use was negatively related to emotional intelligence, being this relationship stronger in girls. With respect to the possible buffering effect, emotional intelligence moderated the relation between problematic Internet use and cyberbullying perpetration in boys, especially at lower levels. These findings suggest that emotional intelligence is a personal resource which have an important protective role for the problematic Internet use in adolescents. Implications for the preventive interventions of cyberbullying perpetration are discussed.

大量文献已将有问题的互联网使用确定为网络欺凌行为的风险因素。然而，关于可能缓和这种关系的保护因素的研究仍然很少。本研究的目的是检查情商是否是有问题的互联网使用与网络欺凌行为之间关系的调节剂。共有 2039 名 12 至 18 岁的西班牙青少年填写了三份自我报告问卷来评估这些变量。结果表明，网络欺凌行为与有问题的互联网使用呈正相关，与情商呈负相关。另一方面，有问题的互联网使用与情商呈负相关，因为这种关系在女孩中更强。关于可能的缓冲效应，情商调节了有问题的互联网使用与男孩网络欺凌行为之间的关系，尤其是在较低水平的男孩中。这些发现表明，情商是一种个人资源，对青少年有问题的互联网使用具有重要的保护作用。讨论了对网络欺凌行为的预防干预的影响。