Examining the Relationship between Dimensions of Anger and Personality Deviance Features and Cyber Aggression

Cyber aggression is defined as aggressive behaviors that take place secretly in cyberspace, without involving a face-to-face encounter of the people involved. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between dimensions of anger and personality deviance features and cyber aggression among university students. This was a descriptive, correlational study, and the sample included 220 students studying at the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili during the 2017/18 academic year, which were selected by cluster random sampling. In order to collect data, we used the dimensions of anger, personality deviance and cyber aggression questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Our results showed that cyber aggression had a positive correlation with external anger and anger arousal, two dimensions of anger, and stigmatization, hostile acts and domination, dimensions of personality deviance. The results of regression analysis showed that dimension of anger and personality deviance could predict 22 percent of cyber aggression. It seems that higher rates of anger and personality deviances will increase the possibility of aggressive behaviors on the Internet and Cyberspace. Therefore, it is suggested that universities set up workshops to reduce online aggression with an emphasis on controlling components of anger and personality deviance.