Sex-specific psychological mechanisms of cyber reactive aggression: evidence from Chinese college students

TL;DR

This study explores how male and female Chinese college students differ in their online aggressive behaviors, revealing distinct psychological patterns and suggesting the need for gender-specific interventions.

Contribution

The study identifies sex-specific psychological mechanisms linking trait anger, hostile attribution bias, and revenge motivation to cyber reactive aggression in Chinese college students.

Findings

Male students showed strong associations between trait anger and hostile attribution bias, and between revenge motivation and cyber reactive aggression.

Female students exhibited prominent relationships between hostile attribution bias and cyber reactive aggression.

Maternal education levels were positively linked to aggression in both sexes, while left-behind experiences uniquely increased hostile attribution bias in males.

Abstract

This study investigated sex-specific psychological mechanisms underlying cyber reactive aggression (CRA) among Chinese college students, addressing a critical gap in understanding how trait anger (TA), hostile attribution bias (HAB), and revenge motivation (RM) differently influence male and female online aggressive behaviors. Using convenience sampling, we collected data from 926 students (371 males, 555 females) across 12 universities in China. Network analysis with mgm package revealed distinct sex-specific patterns: male participants showed strong TA-HAB and RM-CRA associations, while female participants exhibited prominent HAB-CRA relationships. Notably, maternal education levels were positively associated with aggressive behavior in both sexes (males: weight = 0.22; females: weight = 0.14), while left-behind experiences uniquely was associated with higher HAB in males (weight = 0.55). Multi-group structural equation modeling further validated these sex-specific pathways: TA was significantly associated with CRA in both sexes (males: β = 0.40, p < 0.001; females: β = 0.44, p < 0.001), with both HAB and RM mediating the TA-CRA relationship in males, while only HAB served as a significant mediator in females. These findings advance our theoretical understanding of sex-specific aggression mechanisms in digital contexts and suggest that intervention strategies should be tailored differently for male and female college students.

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