Traditional and Cyberbullying Victimization, Relative Deprivation, and Internet Gaming Addiction of Adolescents: Does Gender Make a Difference?

This study examined the relationship between traditional and cyberbullying victimization and Internet gaming addiction in a large sample of adolescents (N = 2001) from Mainland China. We further explored whether the above relationship could be mediated by relative deprivation. Moreover, group differences were tested between male and female adolescents to determine whether gender could moderate the conceptual model in this study. Data collection was performed through a cross-sectional survey and data analyses were conducted using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and multi-group analysis in SEM. The results indicated that only cyberbullying victimization was directly associated with Internet gaming addiction. Relative deprivation fully mediated the relationship between traditional bullying victimization and Internet gaming addiction, and partially mediated the association between cyberbullying victimization and Internet gaming addiction. However, no significant gender differences were observed in the effects of traditional and cyberbullying victimization on Internet gaming addiction via relative deprivation in our sample. These findings suggest that bullying victimization is a significant factor associated with Internet gaming addiction, with relative deprivation serving as a mediator in this relationship. The conceptual model proposed in our study applies to both male and female adolescents. However, due to the cross-sectional research design of this study, there is no way of ruling that the associations may be in the opposite direction than hypothesized. Hence, the proposed model needs to be further validated through longitudinal studies in the future. Practical implications were also discussed.