Psychological causes of cyber-aggression in orphaned adolescents

Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Institute of Psychology, 191186, Saint Petersburg, Russia

^* Corresponding author: a.miklyaeva@gmail.com

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study aimed at analyzing and comparing the psychological causes of cyber-aggression in adolescents living in a parent family and an orphanage. The empirical research is based K.S. Runions’s theory cyber-aggression [1]. K.S. Runions describes cyber-aggression of adolescents through their motivational goals and ability to behavioral self-control. Data collection was carried out using a Typological Questionnaire of cyber-aggression, a projective drawing "Man in the rain", and a Questionnaire for assessing the involvement of adolescents in Internet communication. The study involved 223 adolescents aged 10-17 (22% from orphanages. Participation in the study was voluntary, and everyone had the informed consent. The results show that adolescents raised in orphanages are more clearly prone to cyber-aggression, especially in the case of impulsive-aversive and controlled-appetitive forms. Adolescents, generally, are more willing to display appetitive forms of cyber-aggression; they are able to show aggression against other users for the sake of reward and entertainment. The results of the study showed that the tendency to cyber-aggression correlates with sociability and hostility of the world, and in adolescents from parental families with the need for communication, demonstrativeness and aggression in adolescents left without parental care.