Psychological maltreatment and adolescent internet harassment perpetration: The mediating role of deviant peer affiliation and the moderating role of self-compassion

Psychological maltreatment has been regarded as a risk factor for adolescent internet harassment. However, previous studies failed to take family, peer, and individual factors into account comprehensively when comes to adolescent internet harassment perpetration. Based on the Social-Ecological Diathesis–Stress Model, the present study established a moderated mediation model to investigate the mediating role of deviant peer affiliation in the association between psychological maltreatment and adolescent internet harassment perpetration, as well as the moderating role of self-compassion. A total of 1,592 Chinese adolescents (51.07 % girls, Mage = 13.23 years) participated in the current study. The participants completed questionnaires regarding demographics, psychological maltreatment, internet harassment perpetration, deviant peer affiliation, and self-compassion. Psychological maltreatment was positively related to adolescent internet harassment perpetration. Mediation analyses revealed that deviant peer affiliation partially mediated this relationship (indirect effect = 0.14, 95 % CI = [0.09, 0.20]). Moderated mediation analyses further indicated that self-compassion not only moderated the link between psychological maltreatment and adolescent internet harassment perpetration, with the effect being significant only for adolescents with low levels of self-compassion, but also moderated the indirect association between psychological maltreatment and internet harassment perpetration via deviant peer affiliation, with the association being much more potent for adolescents with low levels of self-compassion. This study highlights the importance of considering multiple circumstantial and individual factors to understand the development of adolescents' externalizing problems.