The mediating role of spiritual health in the relationship between dark personality traits and tendency to cyber bullying in high school students

Abstract

Background and Aim: This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of spiritual health in the relationship between dark personality traits and tendency to cyberbullying in high school students. Methods: It was a descriptive correlational research based on the structural equation modeling method. The statistical population of the research was made up of all 658 male students of the first secondary school of the ninth grade in 5 public schools of Babol city in the academic year of 2023. In this research, to determine the sample size according to the number of observed variables and assigning a coefficient of 30(7 observed variables in the model), and taking into account the possibility of incomplete questionnaires, 250 people were selected as the sample size using the available method. The research tools included the questionnaire of cyber victimization-bullying experience questionnaire of Antoniadou et al. (2016), the scale of three dark personality traits of Janason & Webster (2010) and the spiritual health questionnaire of Paloutzian & Ellison (1982). Data analysis was done by structural equation method based on regression equations. Results: The findings showed that there is a significant relationship between dark personality traits and spiritual health with the tendency to cyber bullying in first secondary school students and the research model was confirmed and in general 46% of the tendency to cyber bullying was caused by dark personality traits and spiritual health in First secondary students can be explained. Also, the variables of dark personality traits and spiritual health have a significant direct effect on the tendency to cyber bullying in first secondary school students, and the indirect path of dark personality traits with the mediation of spiritual health on the tendency to cyber bullying in first secondary school students was confirmed. Conclusion: This research provides practical implications for psychologists and counselors regarding the role 
of cognitive and spiritual factors in students' tendency towards cyber bullying.