Fight or Flight? Curvilinear Relations between Previous Cyberbullying Victimization Experiences and Continuous Use of Social Media: Social Media Rumination and Distress as Chain Mediators

Abstract

Recently, the number of active users of social media platforms is declining, posing a challenge to the sustainability of interest in social media and related industries. Therefore, it is of great significance to examine the environmental and psychological factors that influence the continuous use of social media. Until recently, little research has examined this topic from the perspective of the relationship between previous cyberbullying victimization experiences (PCVE) and the continuous use of social media (CUOSM), not to mention the psychological mechanisms that lead to this relationship. In addition, there are paradoxes in existing studies: one side believes that PCVE causes users to become addicted to using social media, while the other side argues that PCVE drives users to escape from using social media. In order to respond to this controversy and clarify the relationship between PCVE and CUOSM, this study introduces two psychological variables, namely “social media rumination (SMR)” and “distress”, in order to construct a chain mediation model. Researchers surveyed 692 people who had experienced social media cyberbullying, and analyzed the data through SPSS and Mplus. The findings were as follows: 1. There is an inverted U-shaped curve relationship between PCVE and CUOSM. Specifically, the relationship initially exhibits a positive correlation (the period named fight), which then becomes negative (the period named flight). 2. When PCVE and CUOSM are positively correlated, SMR is the main factor that contributes to an increase in CUOSM. 3. When PCVE and CUOSM are negatively correlated, distress is the major factor that causes a decline in CUOSM. This study provides an explanation for the controversy in previous research, expands the scope of social media research, and provides a practical reference for social media platforms to enhance their existing users’ continuous use.