Self-control and Cyberbullying Behavior Among College Students: Roles of Moral Disengagement and Perceived Social Support

LIU Shen; MA Shuang; SONG Minghua

doi:10.12100/j.issn.2096-5494.226016

2026 , Vol. 9 >Issue 2: 95 - 104

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12100/j.issn.2096-5494.226016

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Self-control and Cyberbullying Behavior Among College Students: Roles of Moral Disengagement and Perceived Social Support

LIU Shen ,
MA Shuang ,
SONG Minghua

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¹School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China;
²Mental Health Education Center, Huzhou Normal University, Huzhou 313000, China

^*SONG Minghua, 02615@huznu.edu.cn

Online published: 2026-10-23

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Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to explore the relationship between of self-control and cyberbullying among college students, as well as the roles of moral disengagement and the perceived social support.
Methods: A convenience sampling method was employed. A total of 534 college students from two universities in Anhui Province were recruited and administered questionnaires measuring self-control, moral disengagement, perceived social support, and cyberbullying. Pearson product‑moment correlation analysis was performed to examine bivariate relationships among the four study variables. Subsequently, using self-control as the independent variable, moral disengagement as the mediator, perceived social support as the moderator, and cyberbullying behavior as the dependent variable, we applied the PROCESS macro (Bootstrap method) to test the mediating effect and the moderated mediation effect.
Results: (1) Self-control negatively predicted cyberbullying behavior among college students (total effect=-0.120). (2) Moral disengagement mediated the relationship between self-control and cyberbullying behavior, with the indirect effect accounting for 42.5% of the total effect. (3) Perceived social support moderated both the first and second paths of the mediation model. Specifically, compared with low perceived social support, high perceived social support not only strengthened the suppressing effect of self-control on moral disengagement, but also weakened the facilitating effect of moral disengagement on cyberbullying behavior.
Conclusion: Self-control influences college students' cyberbullying behavior through the mediating role of moral disengagement and the moderating role of perceived social support.

Key words： self-control; cyberbullying behavior; moral disengagement; perceived social support

Cite this article

LIU Shen , MA Shuang , SONG Minghua . Self-control and Cyberbullying Behavior Among College Students: Roles of Moral Disengagement and Perceived Social Support[J]. Psychological Communications, 2026 , 9(2) : 95 -104 . DOI: 10.12100/j.issn.2096-5494.226016

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