Irreversible Effects of Affiliation With Delinquent Peers on Cyberbullying Perpetration Among Adolescents in Hong Kong: Moderating Effect of Student–Teacher Relationships

Abstract

Adolescent affiliation with delinquent peers can lead to offline delinquent behaviors; however, less is known about its effect on online delinquent behaviors, particularly cyberbullying perpetration. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the delinquent peer effect on cyberbullying perpetration can be reversed by reducing affiliation with delinquent peers. Using novel asymmetric fixed-effects regression with two-wave follow-up data from Hong Kong (N = 356) to control for observed time-variant and observed and unobserved time-invariant confounders, we found that increased affiliation with delinquent peers was associated with increased cyberbullying perpetration, whereas decreased affiliation with delinquent peers was not associated with cyberbullying perpetration. Additionally, improving student–teacher relationships mitigated the effect of increased affiliation with delinquent peers on cyberbullying perpetration. Therefore, the effect of affiliation with delinquent peers on cyberbullying perpetration may be irreversible. Nevertheless, interventions and policies can aim to enhance student–teacher relationships to alleviate the delinquent peer effect on cyberbullying perpetration.