Examining the Link Between Impulsivity, Internet Addiction, Cyberbullying, and Cybervictimization Among Adolescents in a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic

This study investigated the connections between Internet addiction, impulsivity, cyberbullying, and cybervictimization in adolescents aged 12 to 18 years who sought care at a university hospital’s child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient clinic. This study involved 283 adolescents. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), and the Revised Cyberbullying Inventory-II (RCBI-II) were administered to participants who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria and consented to join the study. Analyses were conducted by dividing the IAT total scores according to the cut-off value and grouping the RCBI-II-CB and RCBI-II-CV scores as 10 or greater. Among adolescents with Internet addiction, statistically significant higher scores were observed across all the aforementioned scales and inventories. Correlation tests revealed significant associations among all these scales and inventories. Furthermore, logistic regression analyses demonstrated that impulsivity had a significant effect on both Internet addiction and cyberbullying as well as cybervictimization. Internet addiction was found to have a significant impact on both cyberbullying and cybervictimization. Additionally, cyberbullying and cybervictimization were shown to have significant effects on each other. However, cyberbullying and cybervictimization were not found to have a significant effect on Internet addiction. This research contributes valuable insights to the literature by presenting findings consistent with prior studies while also introducing divergent results that enhance and broaden the current understanding. These differences serve as a foundation for future research, offering valuable guidance for further studies.