The need to belong as motive for (cyber)bullying and aggressive behavior among immigrant adolescents in Cyprus

Olga Solomontos-Kountouri, Dagmar Strohmeier

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Peer group integration is a crucial acculturative goal for immigrant adolescents who, in order to reach this goal, may use bullying and/or aggressive behavior. The present study aims to explore the underlying aggression motives by investigating the importance of three motives (anger, power, and affiliation) for five different forms of aggressive behavior (bullying, cyberbullying, physical, verbal, and relational aggression) in three groups of adolescents (non-immigrants, first-generation and second-generation immigrants) in Cyprus. The sample consists of 507 non-immigrant Greek Cypriots, 149 first-generation and 93 second-generation immigrants (age M = 16.1, SD = 0.39; range 15–19; 52% female). Data was collected via validated self-report scales. In line with our hypotheses, latent means and covariances structure (MACS) models revealed that the affiliation motive was a stronger predictor for all five forms of aggressive behavior among first-generation immigrant adolescents indicating that the need to belong is especially important for their acculturation. The practical importance of these findings for better integrating newcomer immigrants in schools and aggression prevention are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)159-178
Number of pages20
JournalNew Directions for Child and Adolescent Development
Volume2021
Issue number177
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2021

Keywords

  • adolescent
  • affiliation motive
  • aggression
  • bullying
  • cyberbullying
  • immigrant
  • need to belong
  • Bullying
  • Cyprus
  • Aggression
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Crime Victims
  • Adolescent
  • Female
  • Adolescent Behavior
  • Emigrants and Immigrants

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