Digital shadow of childhood trauma: Associations between childhood maltreatment, moral disengagement, and online aggressive behavior in college students

doi:10.5498/wjp.123977

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World Journal of Psychiatry

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2220-3206

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Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA

Observational Study

Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.

World J Psychiatry. Nov 19, 2026; 16(11): 123977
Published online Nov 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.123977

Digital shadow of childhood trauma: Associations between childhood maltreatment, moral disengagement, and online aggressive behavior in college students

Jia-Xi Peng, Bing-Bing Wang, Yang Lv, Sheng-Jun Wu

Jia-Xi Peng, Mental Health Education Center, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, Sichuan Province, China

Bing-Bing Wang, Yang Lv, Aviation University of Air Force, Changchun 130022, Jilin Province, China

Sheng-Jun Wu, Department of Military Medical Psychology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, Shaanxi Province, China

Co-corresponding authors: Bing-Bing Wang and Sheng-Jun Wu.

Author contributions: Peng JX, Wang BB, Lv Y, and Wu SJ made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data, and the drafting and critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; Wang BB and Wu SJ contributed equally to this article as the co-corresponding authors; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.

AI contribution statement: The authors take full responsibility and accountability for all content of this manuscript, including any portions for which AI tools were used as assistive technologies. All AI-assisted outputs were carefully reviewed, validated, and approved by the authors. AI tools were not used to generate original scientific data, perform independent scientific analyses, or draw scientific conclusions.

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 72374208.

Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Chengdu University, approval No. 498465574.

Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.

STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.

Data sharing statement: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Corresponding author: Sheng-Jun Wu, PhD, Department of Military Medical Psychology, Fourth Military Medical University, No. 169 Changle West Road, Xi’an 710032, Shaanxi Province, China. wushj@fmmu.edu.cn

Received: June 3, 2026
Revised: July 16, 2026
Accepted: July 28, 2026
Published online: November 19, 2026
Processing time: 149 Days and 0.5 Hours

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Online aggressive behavior (OAB) has emerged as a significant mental health concern with the proliferation of digital communication.

AIM

To examine the dual roles of moral disengagement as both a mediator and a moderator in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and OAB among college students.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among college students at two comprehensive universities in Chengdu, China. Of 512 questionnaires distributed, 482 (94.14%) were retained for analysis after excluding responses with extensive missing data or invalid response patterns. Participants completed validated self-report measures of childhood maltreatment (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form), moral disengagement (Bandura’s Moral Disengagement Scale), and the OAB Scale. Mediation was examined using structural equation modeling with bootstrap estimation, and moderation was evaluated using hierarchical regression analysis.

RESULTS

In the final sample (n = 482), childhood maltreatment, moral disengagement, and OAB were significantly and positively intercorrelated (r = 0.43-0.52, P < 0.01). Moral disengagement partially mediated the association between childhood maltreatment and OAB (standardized indirect effect, 95% confidence interval: 0.14-0.34). Moral disengagement also significantly, though modestly, moderated this association (β = 0.09, P = 0.03): Childhood maltreatment was a strong correlate of OAB at high levels of moral disengagement (β = 0.53, P < 0.01), whereas the association was not statistically significant at low levels (β = -0.11, P = 0.28).

CONCLUSION

Moral disengagement was statistically associated with both the transmission and the strength of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and OAB among college students, consistent with a dual mediating and moderating pattern. These preliminary findings suggest that moral disengagement may be a worthwhile target for school-based interventions aimed at reducing cyber-aggression in this population, pending confirmation in longitudinal research.

Keywords: Childhood maltreatment; Moral disengagement; Online aggressive behavior; Mediation; Moderation; College students

Core Tip: This cross-sectional study examined whether moral disengagement simultaneously mediates and moderates the association between childhood maltreatment and online aggressive behavior in college students. The findings suggest that strengthening moral self-regulation could be a promising direction for reducing the behavioral correlates of early maltreatment, although longitudinal evidence is needed to confirm this.