Transformation from ‘suffering’ to ‘perpetrating’ of adolescent bullying behaviour: The mediating effect of angry rumination and the moderating effect of sports behaviour

Abstract This study, based on a sample of 606 adolescents, analyses the relationship between being cyberbullied, anger rumination and perpetrating school bullying using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The study also employs the PROCESS macro model to verify the moderating effect of sports behaviour. The results indicate that being cyberbullied has a significant positive impact on anger rumination, anger rumination has a significant positive impact on perpetrating school bullying and being cyberbullied has a significant positive impact on perpetrating school bullying. Furthermore, anger rumination serves as a significant mediator between being cyberbullied and perpetrating school bullying, while sports behaviour plays a positive moderating role in the pathways from being cyberbullied to anger rumination and subsequently to perpetrating school bullying. Based on these findings, targeted recommendations are proposed to provide insights and suggestions for future research on adolescent school bullying.