Machiavellianism and Bullying Among University Students: Moderating Role of Emotion Regulation

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the vital role of Machiavellianism and emotion regulation in bullying among university students. The study also intended to determine the differences between men and women students, BS and MPhil students. The age range of the sample was 18-29 years old. Two-Dimension Machiavellianism Scale (Monaghan et al., 2019), Emotion Regulation Scale (Gross & John, 2003) and Forms of Bullying Scale (Shaw et al., 2013) were administered on 300 students (170 men and 130 women) from different universities of Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to measure Machiavellianism, emotion regulation and bullying. The results revealed significant negative relationship between emotion regulation subscales cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression and bullying; while, results showed nonsignificant positive relationship between Machiavellianism, emotion regulation subscales (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and bullying. The results also showed nonsignificant moderating role of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression between Machiavellianism and bullying. Furthermore, the results revealed that the male students scored higher on Machiavellianism, expressive suppression, and bullying than female university students, while female students use more cognitive reappraisal strategy as compared to male students. Moreover, the results also showed differences based on age and education among university students. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research were also discussed.