Gender Differences in the Relationships Between Cumulative Ecological Risks and Adolescents’ Cyber/Traditional Bullying: The Mediating Role of Alienation

Adolescents’ cyber/traditional bullying is closely related to the ecological context in which an individual lives. Several studies have examined the effects of single or a few risk factors in family, school, and peer contexts on adolescents’ cyber/traditional bullying. However, few studies have focused on the effects of the accumulation of ecological risk factors in multiple contexts on adolescents’ cyber/traditional bullying and its psychological mechanisms. Therefore, this study investigated 777 adolescents (mean age = 13.57, 43.2% were girls) and explored the relationship between cumulative ecological risks and adolescents’ cyber/traditional bullying. The results show that: (1) Cumulative ecological risks were positively related to adolescents’ cyber/traditional bullying. (2) Alienation mediated the above relations. (3) Compared to girls, the relationship between cumulative ecological risks and cyberbullying and the relationship between alienation and cyber/traditional bullying were stronger in boys. These findings offer an ecological and comprehensive understanding of how cumulative ecological risks are associated with alienation and adolescents’ cyber/traditional bullying.