Parental attachment and cyberbullying victims: the mediation effect of gelotophobia

This study investigates whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) mediates the relationship between cyberbullying victimisation and parental attachment in a sample of young Italian adults ( N = 328; mean age: 20 years). The aim of the study was threefold: to consider gelotophobia, cyberbul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) N.J.), 2023-07, Vol.42 (19), p.16401-16412
Main Authors: Canestrari, Carla, Arroyo, Gonzalo Del Moral, Carrieri, Angelo, Muzi, Morena, Fermani, Alessandra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attachment
Attachment behavior
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Cyberbullying
Fear & phobias
Parent and child
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Social Sciences
Victimization
Young adults
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Summary:This study investigates whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) mediates the relationship between cyberbullying victimisation and parental attachment in a sample of young Italian adults ( N = 328; mean age: 20 years). The aim of the study was threefold: to consider gelotophobia, cyberbullying victimisation and parental attachment, as a whole, namely to test the mediating role of gelotophobia between parental attachment and cyberbullying victimisation; to evaluate the connections among the three variables against an understudied age target, namely young adults; to verify whether the association between gelotophobia and face-to-face bullying victimisation extends to cyberbullying perpetrations. The PhoPhiKat questionnaire, the Cyber-Victimization through Mobile Phone and Internet Scale (CYB-VIC) test and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) scale were used to assess the levels of gelotophobia, cyberbullying victimisation and quality of parental attachment, respectively. Two main results were obtained: (1) Gelotophobia proved to be a mediator variable between cyberbullying victimisation and father attachment and (2) gelotophobia was found to be positively associated with cyberbullying victimisation. The current research adds new evidence on how the three aforementioned variables relate to one another in a range of ages (i.e. young adulthood) and in a cultural context (i.e. the Italian context), which was poorly investigated until now. The paper concludes with a discussion on practical implications.
ISSN:1046-1310
1936-4733
DOI:10.1007/s12144-021-01642-6