Predictors of cyber dating violence; the role of emotional jealousy, self-esteem and emotion regulation difficulties

The aim of this study is to investigate whether emotional jealousy, self-esteem, and emotion dysregulation predict cyber dating violence among university students. The study group of the research consisted of university students studying at Adıyaman University, Adıyaman Province in the 2023-2024 academic year. A total of 498 university students, 284 females and 214 males between the ages of 17 and 25, participated in the study. The 'Cyber Dating Violence Scale', 'Emotional Jealousy Scale', 'Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale' and 'Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16)' and 'Personal Information Form' prepared by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The data of the study were analysed using IBM SPSS 29.0 package programme. Pearson correlation analysis, multiple linear regression analysis and progressive regression analysis methods were used to analyse the data. The study found that the sub-dimension of exposure to cyber dating violence was negatively correlated with the variable of self-esteem and positively correlated with the variable of difficulty in emotion regulation. No significant relationship was found between exposure to cyber dating violence and the variable of emotional jealousy. It was found that there were negative significant relationships between the sub-dimension of being a victim of cyber dating violence and the variables of emotional jealousy and self-esteem, and positive significant relationships with the variable of difficulty in emotion regulation. Following multiple linear regression analysis, it was concluded that emotional jealousy, self-esteem and emotion regulation difficulties predicted cyber dating violence (exposure/victimisation). It was concluded that emotional jealousy and self-esteem were negative predictors of exposure to cyber dating violence, whereas emotion regulation difficulty was a positive predictor (R2 : 0.14). It was concluded that emotional jealousy and self-esteem were negative predictors of being a victim of cyber dating violence, and emotion dysregulation was a positive predictor (R2 : 0.15). Stepwise regression analysis revealed a three-level model. For both sub-dimensions, difficulty regulating emotions was first included in the model, then self-esteem was included in the model, and finally emotional jealousy was included in the model. Both models were significant and it was found that emotion regulation difficulty positively predicted cyber dating violence (exposure/victimisation), while self-esteem and emotional jealousy negatively predicted cyber dating violence at a statistically significant level. The findings were discussed within the context of the literature and suggestions were made for future research.