Machiavellianism, Mindfulness and Cyberbullying among Chinese Junior High School Students: The Mediating Role of Empathy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that Machiavellianism is related to more aggressive behavior and mindfulness is associated with fewer cyberbullying perpetration in adolescents. The present study investigated the ways in which Machiavellianism and mindfulness are related to cyberbullying in Chinese adolescents by considering the role of empathy. A total of 879 Chinese junior high school students were recruited for this study. The results showed that our model fit the data well [χ2/df = 1.897, CFI = 0.975, TLI = 0.961, RMSEA (90% CI) = 0.048 (0.034–0.066)], and revealed that empathy partially mediates the relationship between Machiavellianism, mindfulness, and cyberbullying. Contributions to theory, limitations in our research, and recommendations for future research are discussed in this paper.