The psychological risk-factors of cybervictimization

Annual Review of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine. 2025. Vol. 23. P. 208–214.

Prusova I., Alisa Notkina

The development of digital technologies enhances the studies about social

interaction, e.g., cyberaggression and cybervictimization. Cyber-victimization (CV)

is defined as a process in which an individual is victimized by negative actions in

virtual space, e.g., cyberstalking, cyber fraud, and other types of cybercrime. Most

of the previous studies were focused on the analysis of foundations of CV without

systematic analysis of the psychological risk-factors. The aim of the current study

was to indicate the role of psychological risk-factors of CV in the Russian context.

In Study 1, 506 participants (248 female) completed the Online Victimization Scale

(OVS) (e.g., individual's experience of general, sexual, individual national, and

indirect national CV) and socio-demographic characteristics. The 4-factor model

showed good fit indices (RMSEA = .062 [0.050; 0.075], TLI = 0.955, χ² (166) = 71,

p < .001). The results of correlation analysis show the presence of a connection

between the CV subscales and psychological variables, e.g., perceived stress,

subjective well-being, and negative affect. The OVS shows invariance across

gender, age, and education. In Study 2, 457 participants (243 female) took part in

the online survey. Participants completed the measures of OVS, perceived stress,

self-esteem, positive and negative affect. The results show that only negative affect

positively contributes to the CV, whereas perceived stress – indirectly, through the

negative affect. Self-esteem has no significant direct or indirect effects on the CV.

The practical issues of CV detection are discussed.

Keywords: самооценка, positive affect, negative affect, perceived stress, self-esteem, воспринимаемый стресс, негативный аффект, cybervictimization, кибервиктимизация, позитивный аффект

Publication based on the results of: The diversity of forms, effects and barriers to integration of modern Russian society in synchronic and diachronic dimensions (2025)