Examination of the relationship of university students' cyber dating violence perpetration and victimization with emotion disregulation and dispositional mindfulness

This study primarily aims to examine the relationship between emotion dysregulation, dispositional mindfulness, and the perpetration and victimization of cyber dating violence among university students. The sample consisted of 271 university students, including 207 females and 64 males, all of whom have been involved in at least one dating relationship during their lifetime. The study utilized various data collection instruments, such as the Cyber Dating Abuse Scale, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and a Participant Information Form designed by the researcher to collect demographic data. The study explored whether the perpetration and victimization of cyber dating violence varied significantly according to demographic variables such as gender, mode of communication, time spent with a partner in virtual environments, and the duration of the relationship. Data were collected online, and since they did not exhibit a normal distribution, non-parametric tests, including Spearman Correlation Analysis, the Mann-Whitney U Test, and the Kruskal-Wallis H Test, were employed. The findings revealed a low, negative significant relationship between the "naming emotions" subdimension of dispositional mindfulness and both the total score on the dispositional mindfulness scale and the "direct aggression" subdimension of cyber dating violence. Additionally, there was a low, positive significant relationship between the "clarity" subdimension of emotion dysregulation and the total score of the emotion dysregulation scale with the "direct aggression" subdimension of cyber dating violence. There were also significant positive relationships between the "goals" subdimension of emotion dysregulation and the "monitoring/control" subdimension of exposure to cyber dating violence, as well as between the total score on the exposure to cyber dating violence scale. No significant relationships were identified between the subdimensions of cyber dating violence and demographic variables such as gender and mode of communication. However, a low-level significant relationship was found between the duration of virtual interaction and both the exposure to and perpetration of "monitoring/control" in cyber dating violence. Similarly, there were significant relationships between the frequency of communication and perpetration of "monitoring/control" in cyber dating violence, and between the duration of the relationship and exposure to "direct aggression" in cyber dating violence.