Personality, jealousy, and empathy as predictors of cyber dating abuse perpetration and victimization in young adults

Cyber dating abuse involves psychological and relationally harmful behaviours enacted through digital technologies within romantic relationships. Although prior research links dispositional variables to cyber dating abuse, perpetration and victimisation frequently co-occur, complicating interpretation of individual differences. This study examined associations between personality traits, romantic jealousy, empathy, and gender with psychological and relational cyber dating abuse perpetration and victimisation among 503 young adults aged 18 to 25 in the UK. Hierarchical regression analyses accounted for overlap across forms of cyber dating abuse involvement. Psychological and relational perpetration and victimisation were strongly interrelated, with other forms of involvement accounting for most explained variance across models. After modelling this overlap, dispositional variables explained small but statistically significant increments in variance, with behavioural jealousy and lower agreeableness most consistently associated with perpetration. Dispositional variables did not meaningfully predict psychological victimisation, and gender effects were modest and inconsistent. Overall, the findings suggest cyber dating abuse is best understood as a relational phenomenon characterised by co-occurring perpetration and victimisation, with individual differences shaping how behaviours are expressed rather than serving as primary drivers.

Citation

Mattu, H., Bhogal, M. S., Guy, A. & Galbraith, N. (2026) Personality, jealousy, and empathy as predictors of cyber dating abuse perpetration and victimization in young adults, Psychological Reports.

Type

Journal article

Language

en

Description

© 2026 The Authors. Published by SAGE. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941261436663

ISSN

0033-2941

EISSN

1558-691X

Collections

Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing