Exploring the Competing or Integrating Influences of Self-control and Social Control Theories on Chinese Adolescents' Cyber Dating Abuse

Cyber dating abuse (CDA) refers to direct digital aggression (DDA) and indirect digital monitoring/control (DM/C) against an intimate partner via technology. The culture context of Chinese and the limited examination of CDA overlap permit the application of self-control and social control frameworks in a new cultural context. This study aims to examine the competing or integrating influences of self-control and social control theories (e.g. parents attachment, peer attachment, commitment to educational goals, involvement in traditional activities, belief in conventional values) on an individual’s risk of CDA perpetration. Adolescents (N = 851) were recruited via convenient sampling and completed a self-report questionnaire. Results supported the hypotheses that being males, low self-control, low peer attachment, and low belief are significant predictors of CDA perpetration. We also found that social control (i.e. belief in conventional values) mediated the link between self-control and perpetration of DDA and DM/C, and males with low self-control and belief are more likely to perpetrate CDA behaviors to their intimate partner than females. These results suggest that it is the combination of self-control and social control contribute to the CDA, and the implications of both control theories to prevention and intervention of CDA perpetration merit closer attention.