The Relationship between Irrational Beliefs, Resilience, Psychological Needs, Cyberbullying and Cyber Victimization

The aim of this research is to reveal whether resilience, irrational beliefs and psychological needs are significant predictors of cyberbullying and cyber victimization in adolescents. The research sample consisted of 849 students that studied in a high school. Personal Information Form, Revised Cyberbullying Inventory, Irrational Beliefs Scale Adolescent Form, Child and Youth Resilience Scale Brief Form and New Psychological Needs Evaluation Scale were used for data collection. Results showed that, 14.9%, 18.6% and 8.9% of the students were cyberbullies, cyber victims and cyberbullies/ cyber victims, respectively. According to the results, boys who participated in the study showed that they experienced more cyber bullying (X =1.28) than girls (X =1.23). Similarly, the mean score of boys in cyber victimization (X =1.27) was higher than females (X =1.23). In terms of parental attitudes, students who are exposed to unrelated parental attitudes are more likely to be cyber bullies. On the other hand, students exposed to oppressive parental attitudes experience more cyber victimization. It was also found that irrational beliefs, resilience and psychological needs (success, dominance, autonomy and need for relationship) significantly predicted cyber bullying and victimization. The findings will provide a better understanding of cyberbullying behaviors of adolescents and other variables such as psychological needs and beliefs, which are a significant consequence of parental behavior and parent child interaction.