The present study aimed to observe the impact of self-esteem and FOMO on online trolling, investigating the mediating role of antisocial online content exposure. A total of 300 social media users (27.68 years, SD = 7.15, SE = .41) participated in the study. Data analysis showed statistically significant model-fit indices (CFI = .99, GFI = .98, TLI = .98, RMSEA = .02 | 90% CI .01–.03|, SRMR = .04) to the mediation model: both self-esteem (direct effects: λ = −0.17, p < .01, indirect effects: λ = −.06, p < .05) and FOMO (direct effects: λ = .19, p < .01, indirect effects: λ = .07, p < .01) were related to online trolling, both directly and indirectly, trough antisocial online content exposure. It is possible to conclude that the objective was achieved, highlighting the importance of both personal factors and contextual characteristics of the internet in the perpetuation of online aggression.
AbellL.BuglassS.BettsL. (2019). Fear of missing out and relational aggression on Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22(12), 799–803. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0071
2.
AlutaybiA.Al-ThaniD.McAlaneyJ.AliR. (2020). Combating fear of missing out (FoMO) on social media: The FoMO-R method. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,17(17), 6128. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17176128
3.
AnastasiadisT.LampropoulosG.SiakasK. (2018). Digital game-based learning and serious games in education. International Journal of Advances in Scientific Research and Engineering (Ijasre), 4(12), 139–144. https://doi.org/10.31695/IJASRE.2018.33016
4.
AndersonC. A.BuckleyK. E.CarnageyN. L. (2008). Creating your own hostile environment: A laboratory examination of trait aggressiveness and the violence escalation cycle. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(4), 462–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207311282
5.
AndersonC. A.BushmanB. J. (2018). Media violence and the general aggression model. Journal of Social Issues, 74(2), 386–413. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12275
6.
AndersonC. A.BushmanB. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 27–51.
7.
AndersonC. A.SuzukiK.SwingE. L.GrovesC. L.GentileD. A.ProtS.LamC. P.SakamotoA.HoriuchiY.KrahéB.JelicM.LiuqingW.TomaR.WarburtonW. A.ZhangX.TajimaS.QingF.PetrescuP. (2017). Media violence and other aggression risk factors in seven nations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(7), 986–998. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217703064
8.
AydınA.ArdaA.GüneşB.ErbaşO. (2021). Psychopathology of cyberbullying and internet trolling. Journal of Experimental and Basic Medical Sciences, 2(3), 380–391. https://doi.org/10.5606/jebms.2021.75680
9.
BanduraA. (1973). Aggression: A social learning analysis. Prentice Hall.
BuckelsE. E.TrapnellP. D.AndjelovicT.PaulhusD. L. (2018). Internet trolling and everyday sadism: Parallel effects on pain perception and moral judgment. Journal of Personality, 87(2), 328–340. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12393
12.
BuckelsE. E.TrapnellP. D.PaulhusD. L. (2014). Trolls just want to have fun. Personality and Individual Differences, 67, 97–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.016
13.
BuglassS.BinderJ.BettsL.UnderwoodJ. (2017). Motivators of online vulnerability: The impact of social network site use and FOMO. Computers in Human Behavior, 66, 248–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.055
14.
BurnashevaR.SuhY. (2020). The influence of social media usage, self-image congruity and self-esteem on conspicuous online consumption among millennials. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 33(5), 1255–1269. https://doi.org/10.1108/apjml-03-2020-0180
15.
BushmanB. J.AndersonC. A. (2020). General aggression model. In: BulckJ.EwoldsenD.MaresM.ScharrerE. (Eds.), International encyclopedia of media psychology. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119011071.iemp0154
16.
BushmanB. J.BaumeisterR. F.PhillipsC. M. (2001). Do people aggress to improve their mood? Catharsis beliefs, affect regulation opportunity, and aggressive responding. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.17
17.
ByrneB. M. (2012). Structural equation modeling with Mplus. Routledge.
18.
CookC.SchaafsmaJ.AntheunisM. (2018). Under the bridge: An in-depth examination of online trolling in the gaming context. New Media and Society, 20(9), 3323–3340. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817748578
GarofaloC.HoldenC. J.Zeigler-HillV.VelottiP. (2016). Understanding the connection between self-esteem and aggression: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation. Aggressive Behavior, 42(1), 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21601
21.
GoriA.TopinoE.GriffithsM. D. (2023). The associations between attachment, self-esteem, fear of missing out, daily time expenditure, and problematic social media use: A path analysis model. Addictive Behaviors, 141, 107633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107633
HandonoS. G.LaeheemK.SittichaiR. (2019). Factors related with cyberbullying among the youth of Jakarta, Indonesia. Children and Youth Services Review, 99, 235–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.02.012
24.
HardakerC. (2010). Trolling in asynchronous computer-mediated communication: From user discussions to academic definitions. Journal of Politeness Research, 6(2), 215–242. https://doi.org/10.1515/JPLR.2010.011
25.
HattinghM.DhirA.RacthamP.FerrarisA.YahiaouiD. (2022). Factors mediating social media-induced fear of missing out (fomo) and social media fatigue: A comparative study among instagram and snapchat users. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 185, 122099. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122099
26.
HawiN. S.SamahaM. (2016). The relations among social media addiction, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in university students. Social Science Computer Review, 35(5), 576–586. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439316660340
27.
HongF.-Y.ChengK.-T. (2018). Correlation between university students’ online trolling behavior and online trolling victimization forms, current conditions, and personality traits. Telematics and Informatics,35(2), 397–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.12.016
28.
HowardK.ZolnierekK. H.CritzK.DaileyS.CeballosN. (2019). An examination of psychosocial factors associated with malicious online trolling behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences, 149, 309–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.06.020
JacksonL. A.von EyeA.FitzgeraldH. E.ZhaoY.WittE. A. (2010). Self-concept, self-esteem, gender, race and information technology use. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(3), 323–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2009.11.001
31.
JASP Team. (2022). JASP Version 0.16.2. [Computer software].
32.
KircaburunK.JonasonP. K.GriffithsM. D. (2018). The Dark Tetrad traits and problematic social media use: The mediating role of cyberbullying and cyberstalking. Personality and Individual Differences, 135, 264–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.07.034
33.
KlineR. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Guilford Publications.
34.
LampropoulosG.AnastasiadisT.SiakasK.SiakasE. (2022). The impact of personality traits on social media use and engagement: An overview. International Journal on Social and Education Sciences (IJonSES), 4(1), 34–51. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijonses.264
35.
LiuM.WuB.LiF.WangX.GengF. (2022). Does mindfulness reduce trolling? The relationship between trait mindfulness and online trolling: The mediating role of anger rumination and the moderating role of online disinhibition. Journal of Affective Disorders, 301, 36–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.01.023
36.
MamunM. A.HossainM. S.MoonajilinM. S.MasudM. T.MistiJ. M.GriffithsM. D. (2020). Does loneliness, self-esteem and psychological distress correlate with problematic internet use? A Bangladeshi survey study. Asia-Pacific Psychiatry, 12(2), e12386. https://doi.org/10.1111/appy.12386
37.
MarchE. (2019). Psychopathy, sadism, empathy, and the motivation to cause harm: New evidence confirms malevolent nature of the Internet Troll. Personality and Individual Differences, 141, 133–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.01.001
38.
MarchE.SteeleG. (2020). High esteem and hurting others online: Trait sadism moderates the relationship between self-esteem and internet trolling. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(7), 441–446. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0652
39.
MarianoT.SantosI.PimentelC.NascimentoA.MendesL. (n.d.). Fear of missing out, personality, need for identification, and social media engagement. In Press.
40.
MarôcoJ. (2010). Análise de equações estruturais. Report Number.
41.
MathewP.KrishnanR. (2020). Impact of problematic internet use on the self-esteem of adolescents in the selected school, Kerala, India. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 34(3), 122–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2020.02.008
42.
Metin-OrtaI. (2020). Fear of missing out, internet addiction and their relationship to psychological symptoms. Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addictions, 7(1), 67–73. https://doi.org/10.15805/addicta.2020.7.1.0070
43.
Miles-NoveloA.GrovesC. L.AndersonK. B.PimentelC. E.EscabedoS. B.PlanteC.MarianoT. E.AndersonC. A. (2022). Further tests of the media violence–aggression link: Replication and extension of the 7 nations project with multiple Latinx samples. Psychology of Popular Media, 11(4), 435–442. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000428
44.
OstrowskyM. K. (2010). Are violent people more likely to have low self-esteem or high self-esteem?Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15(1), 69–75.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2009.08.004
45.
Pascual-SanchezA.HickeyN.MateuA.Martinez-HervesM.KramerT.NichollsD. (2021). Personality traits and self-esteem in traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Personality and Individual Differences, 177, 110809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110809
PlanteC.AndersonC. A.AllenJ. J.GrovesC. L.GentileD. A. (2020). Game on! Sensible answers about video games and media violence. Zengen LLC Publishing.
48.
PrzybylskiA. K.MurayamaK.DeHaanC. R.GladwellV. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1814–1848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.014
49.
RopovikI.MartončikM.BabinčákP.BaníkG.VargováL.AdamkovičM. (2023). Risk and protective factors for (internet) gaming disorder: A meta-analysis of pre-COVID studies. Addictive Behaviors, 139, 107590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107590
50.
RosenbergM. (1989). Society and the adolescent self-image. Revised edition. Wesleyan University Press.
51.
SantosI.PimentelC.MarianoT. (2021). Conteúdo antissocial online: Uma análise psicossocial e dados de uma amostra brasileira roger goulart mello; Patrícia Gonçalves de Freitas. (Org.). In Caminhos da comunicação digital: conhecimento e informação (pp. 93–102). E-publicar.
52.
SantosI.PimentelC.MarianoT. (2022a). Online trolling: The impact of antisocial online content, social media use, and gender. Psychological Reports. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941211055705
53.
SantosI. L. S. (2022). Comportamento Antissocial Online: Uma Abordagem Pautada no Modelo Geral da Agressão [Master Degree Dissertation]. Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa.
54.
SantosI. L. S.PimentelC. E.MarianoT. E.DiasE. V. A. (2022b). Why do we share aggressive online content? Testing a short cycle model. Aggressive Behavior, 49(1), 49–57. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.22052
55.
Seigfried-SpellarK. C.LankfordC. M. (2018). Personality and online environment factors differ for posters, trolls, lurkers, and confessors on Yik Yak. Personality and Individual Differences, 124, 54–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.11.047
56.
SekścińskaK.JaworskaD. (2022). Who felt blue when Facebook went down? - the role of self-esteem and FoMO in explaining people’s mood in reaction to social media outage. Personality and Individual Differences, 188, 111460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111460
57.
ServidioR.GentileA.BocaS. (2018). The mediational role of coping strategies in the relationship between self-esteem and risk of internet addiction. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 14(1), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v14i1.1449
58.
SestN.MarchE. (2017). Constructing the cyber-troll: Psychopathy, sadism, and empathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 119, 69–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.038
59.
TandonA.DhirA.TalwarS.KaurP.MäntymäkiM. (2021). Dark consequences of social media-induced fear of missing out (Fomo): Social media stalking, comparisons, and fatigue. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 171, 120931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120931
60.
TayadeP.ShaikhS.DeshmukhS. (2017). To discover trolling patterns in social media: Troll filter. International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology, 2(5), 698–703. https://ijsrcseit.com/paper/CSEIT1725158.pdf
61.
TengZ.LiuY.GuoC. (2015). A meta-analysis of the relationship between self-esteem and aggression among Chinese students. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 21, 45–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2015.01.005
62.
UramP.SkalskiS. (2020). Still logged in? The link between Facebook addiction, FoMO, self-esteem, life satisfaction and loneliness in social media users. Psychological Reports, 125(1), 218–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294120980970
63.
ZezulkaL. A.Seigfried-SpellarK. C. (2016). Differentiating cyberbullies and Internet trolls by personality characteristics and self-esteem. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law: Special Issue on Cyberharassment, 11(3), 7–26.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
