Cyberbullying behaviors of football fans in Turkey: The role of fanaticism, dark personality traits, and demographic factors

This study explores the cyberbullying behavior of football fans in Turkey, examining the effects of fanaticism, dark personality traits, and demographic factors. The research encompasses a sample of 152 individuals, revealing that marital status significantly influences both cyberbullying and fanaticism. Factors such as the manner in which fans watch matches, their membership in fan associations, their purpose of social media use, and their attendance at amateur matches result in substantial variations in the levels of cyberbullying. A positive correlation between cyberbullying, fanaticism, and dark personality traits was identified. The violence dimension of fanaticism and psychopathy surfaced as the strongest determinants of cyberbullying. Regression analyses indicate that the purpose of social media use and watching amateur matches account for 9.3% of cyberbullying, whereas fanaticism and dark personality traits explain 9.1%. Furthermore, the total dimensions of fanaticism and dark personality traits accounted for 33.1%and the violence dimension of fanaticism and psychopathy