The relationship between the big five and cyberbullying among college students: the mediating effect of moral disengagement

The present study examined the prevalence of cyberbullying and the mediating effect of moral disengagement in the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and cyberbullying. We recruited 655 undergraduates to complete the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, Moral Disengagement Scale, and Cyberbullying Questionnaire. The results revealed: (1) significant gender differences in cyberbullying, with males reporting more cyberbullying than females in all three dimensions: perpetration, victimization, and bystander behavior; (2) agreeableness was negatively related to engaging in perpetration, victimization, and bystander behavior, whereas neuroticism was only positively related to bystander behavior; and (3) moral disengagement played a partially mediating role in the relationship between neuroticism and bystander behavior, as well as the relationship between agreeableness and bystander behavior. Moreover, moral disengagement played a totally mediating role in the relationship between agreeableness and engagement in perpetration, as well as the relationship between agreeableness and involvement in victimization.