The Moderating Role of Personality Traits in Relationship between Ethnic-Cultural Empathy and Cyber Bullying

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between ethnic-cultural empathy with cyber bullying with the moderating role of personality traits among high school girls in Isfahan. The method is correlation and the statistical population of this study were all female high school students in Isfahan, of which 380 was estimated through Cochran's sampling formula and selected by available sampling. Data collection tools was three questionnaires of ethnic and cultural empathy of Wang et al. (2003), the standard questionnaire of cyber bullying Minnie Sini, Nosentini and Kalousi (2011) and the short form questionnaire of five personality traits (NEO) McCray and Costa (1985). Inferential level analysis was performed using structural equation modeling using AMOS software. Findings: The results of modulating personality traits along with the components of ethnic and cultural empathy showed empathetic awareness with a coefficient of(-0.20), empathetic perspective with a coefficient of (-0.37), acceptance of differences with a coefficient of (-0.44) ), expressing empathy with a coefficient of (-0.26) has an effect on cyber bullying. The results of the research also show that in the personality dimension, neuroticism has the highest degree of moderation among the dimensions of ethnic and cultural empathy sub-components with an increasing impact on cyber bullying behavior. It seems that although strengthening the areas of cultural ethnic empathy can control cyber bullying behaviors, but the role of personality traits, especially neuroticism, among girls is more than cultural ethnic empathy.

Keywords

• ethnic-cultural empathy
• personality traits
• cyber bullying