Does victimization predict cyberbullying perpetration? Examining depression as a mediator and self-control as a moderator

Introduction: Victimization not only causes psychological distress among adolescents but makes them become perpetrators. The mediating and moderating mechanism underlying the relations between victimization and cyberbullying remains largely unknown. Furthermore, whether the effects of online and offline victimization on cyberbullying have the same mechanisms remains uncertain. Methodology: Using a sample of 607 adolescents aged from 13 to 18 years, this study investigated a moderated mediation model in which depression mediated the relation between online and offline victimization and cyberbullying. Additionally, the study examines whether self-control moderates the direct and indirect relations between victimization and cyberbullying that operates through depression. Findings: Online and offline victimization positively associated with depression, which, in turn, predicted higher possibilities of cyberbullying perpetration. Self-control moderated the relations between online victimization as well as offline victimization and depression, while the relation between depression and cyberbullying was not moderated by self-control. Conclusion: The moderated mediation model developed in this study functioned for both online and offline victimization. The practical implications of this study are discussed.