Assessing the Links Between Parenting Practices, Moral Emotions, and Cyberbullying Perpetrations Among a Sample of Iranian Sports Fans

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20923252
• Author: Jaeyong Choi,Saeed Kabiri,Ilhong Yun,Seyyedeh Masoomeh (Shamila) Shadmanfaat
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20923252

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2020, Vol. 64(16) 1674 –1695

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20923252

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Article

Assessing the Links Between

Parenting Practices, Moral

Emotions, and Cyberbullying

Perpetrations Among a

Sample of Iranian Sports

Fans

Seyyedeh Masoomeh (Shamila) Shadmanfaat1,

Jaeyong Choi2, Saeed Kabiri3, and Ilhong Yun4

Abstract

Parenting practices have direct effects on children’s moral development and

delinquency. A growing empirical literature also documents the influence of morality

on offending patterns. Yet, our understanding of the interrelationships among

parenting practices, morality, and cyberbullying is limited. This study contributes to

and extends this line of research by examining the extent to which moral emotions

mediate the relationship between parenting practices and sports fans’ cyberbullying.

We used a sample of 384 Iranian high school students from the 35th Boys Sports

Olympiad Tournament in Shiraz, Iran. The results from structural modeling analysis

show that both parenting practices and moral emotions are associated with the

likelihood of sports fans’ decision to perpetrate cyberbullying and that moral emotions

mediate the association between parenting practices and cyberbullying. The robust

and consistent patterns of the results signify the importance of parenting and moral

development in curbing the problem of cyberbullying.

1University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

2Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX, USA

3University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

4Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea

Corresponding Author:

Ilhong Yun, Department of Police Administration, Chosun University, 309 Pilmun-daero Dong-gu,

Gwangju 501-759, South Korea.

Email: yun.ilhong@gmail.com

923252IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20923252International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyShadmanfaat et al.

research-article2020

Shadmanfaat et al. 1675

Keywords

parenting, moral emotions, moral identity, parenting practices, cyberbullying

Introduction

Online social networks have flourished in the professional sports realm, with sports-

related companies, professional leagues, teams, and individual athletes creating social

media accounts for a variety of purposes including enhanced accessibility and visibil-

ity to the public, distribution of information, and promotion of goods or services

(MacPherson & Kerr, 2019). Through these online social networks, communication

among fans, players, and sports figures has changed dramatically (Thompson et al.,

2018). Fans have more control over information on their favorite teams and players

than ever before (Wakefield & Bennett, 2018). Developing communication and infor-

mation technologies has thus offered a new way for supporters to interact with their

favorite athletes and clubs (Shadmanfaat et al., 2020).

Owing to the popularity of social media, sports clubs and athletes invest significant

time and resources in sharing sport-related content with their fans online (Filo et al.,

2015). Various forms of social media platforms—whether they be websites, mobile

applications, or various hybrid forms—are used by sports organizations, college ath-

letes, and professional athletes to raise interactivity levels among sports fans (Billings

et al., 2017). Although some scholars contend that social media are excellent channels

for fostering relationships with sports fans, other scholars hypothesize that these online

channels can increase the probability of deviant behaviors such as cyberbullying

(Shadmanfaat et al., 2020), fanaticism (Alshehri, 2016), and online aggression

(MacPherson & Kerr, 2019; Mudrick et al., 2016; Sanderson, 2013). Fans’ anonymity

and accessibility to their favorite pages can increase cyberbullying perpetration

(Shadmanfaat et al., 2020). For example, online fan–athlete interactions can provide

an opportunity for fans to send harmful comments of a sexual, physical, emotional, or

discriminatory nature directly to athletes (Kavanagh et al., 2016).

Sports fans communicating online do not meet their rivals face-to-face, and such

anonymity can increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviors toward rivals. Fans

often use fake usernames and perpetrate cyberbullying against rivals with whom they

do not have a previous relationship (Barlett, 2015; Barlett et al., 2017; Camacho et al.,

2018; Resett & Gámez-Guadix, 2017). Hence, although fans view social media plat-

forms as the optimal medium for sharing their positive and negative feelings with

other fans, players, and sports figures (Stavros et al., 2014), the increased opportuni-

ties for interaction online are likely to raise the possibility of aggressive behaviors

(Alshehri, 2016; Shadmanfaat et al., 2020).

The prevalence of fans’ cyberbullying perpetration in Iran has garnered attention

from academics and practitioners because of its pervasiveness and unique cultural

aspect (see Shadmanfaat et al., 2019, 2020). Shadmanfaat et al. (2020) reveal that

roughly 30% of their Iranian sample had a history of cyberbullying perpetration. In

Iran, verbally and physically aggressive behaviors are accepted as an integral part of

sports fandom (Shadmanfaat et al., 2020).