The impact mechanism of group identity on cyber-violence in digital environments:A mixed-methods study with university students as samples

Grounded in Social Identity Theory and a relational perspective, this study examined how group identity influences cyber-violence behavior and cognitive appraisal within digital environment s . The three sequential studies conducted among Chinese university students yielded the following findings: (1) In-group identity significantly increases cyber-violence, with both affective empathy and group belongingness interacting with group identity. (2) The effect of group identity on victim evaluation and willingness to assist varies by context: in-group favoritism predominates In the romantic scenarios, whereas group neutrality emerges in financial contexts. Regression analyses further suggested that cyber-violence attribution was positively associated with negative victim evaluations, whereas cyber-violence judgment and affective empathy were negatively associated with such evaluations across contexts. (3) Implicit attitudes toward cyber-violence demonstrate out-group bias, but no reliable evidence was found for a moderating effect of moral judgment on the relationship between group identity and implicit attitudes, and this null finding should be interpreted cautiously given the modest sample size. Using Chinese university students as the sample, this study provides preliminary evidence on the psychological characteristics of group interactions in digital environments. Findings should be interpreted within this specific population and generalizability to other age groups or cultural contexts requires further investigation.