Associations between malevolent creativity and cyberbullying-related behaviors among Chinese adolescents: a network analysis

In the digital age, cyberbullying-related behaviors among adolescents have become a significant public health concern. Although existing research identifies malevolent ideation’s role in cyberbullying, how malevolent creativity is associated with the mechanisms of cyberbullying-related behaviors remains largely unexplored. This study employs network analysis to explore the relationship between malevolent creativity and cyberbullying-related behavior among high school students, examining the interplay among various dimensions of cyberbullying-related behaviors (including cyber-aggression, cyber-victimization, cyber-bystanding, and cyber-defending). We conducted a cross-sectional paper-and-pencil survey from November to December 2023. Using class-based cluster sampling, 1,535 students were recruited from one high school in eastern China, and 1,500 valid responses were retained after excluding questionnaires with missing data or invalid response patterns. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Malevolent Creative Behavior Scale (MCBS), and the Cyber-Bullying Behavior Scale. Two regularized partial correlation networks were estimated: one examined the internal structure of cyberbullying-related behaviors, and the other examined associations between cyberbullying-related behaviors and malevolent creativity. Node importance was evaluated using Strength, Expected Influence (EI), and Bridge Expected Influence (BEI). Exploratory gender analyses were conducted using independent-samples t-tests and the Network Comparison Test (NCT). Regularized partial correlation networks showed structured associations among cyberbullying-related behaviors and malevolent creativity. Within the cyberbullying-related behaviors network, social exclusion (CB2), photo-sharing mockery (CB3), and defending the victim (CD2) showed high centrality. In the combined network, malevolent creativity items were positively associated with cyber-aggression, cyber-victimization, and passive bystanding items, and negatively associated with defending items. The highest positive BEI values were observed for mischievous thoughts (PT1) and self-harm ideation (HP5). Exploratory gender analyses showed higher mean scores among male students and higher global strength in the male network, whereas network structure did not differ significantly by gender. Framed within a complex-systems perspective, this study used networks to examine associations between malevolent creativity and cyberbullying-related behaviors among adolescents. The findings suggest that malevolent creativity items, particularly mischievous thoughts and self-harm ideation, served as key bridging nodes linking cyber-aggression, passive bystanding, and cybervictimization-related behaviors. Gender-based comparisons indicated broadly similar network structures across boys and girls, although the male network showed higher global strength, suggesting stronger overall connectivity among measured items in this sample. These findings highlight potential targets for school-based prevention, including harmful ideation, social exclusion, photo-sharing mockery, and active defending. Given the cross-sectional design and single-school sample, the results should be interpreted as preliminary evidence of conditional associations rather than causal effects.