Cyberbullying and fanatic behaviours of football fans in Turkey: The role of dark personality traits, team loyalty and demographics

Abstract

This study explores the cyberbullying behaviour of football fans in Turkey, examining the effects of fanaticism, dark personality traits, demographic factors and team loyalty. The research encompasses a sample of 152 individuals, revealing that marital status significantly influences both cyberbullying and fanaticism. Various factors, such as how fans watch matches, involvement in fan associations, the purpose of social media use, and attendance at amateur matches, contribute significantly to variations in cyberbullying levels. Fanaticism and dark personality traits are positively correlated with cyberbullying. Regression analyses reveal that the purpose of social media use and watching amateur matches account for 9.3% of cyberbullying, while violence (42.9%) and psychopathy (5.2%) explained 48.2% of the total variance in cyberbullying. Concerning team loyalty, factors like match-watching habits, attendance at amateur matches, social media use intentions, preferred teams, match-watching frequency and location of match-watching jointly account for 41% of the total variance in fanaticism. Additionally, cyberbullying (27.2%) and Machiavellianism (6.3%) together accounted for a total of 33.5% of the variance explained in fanaticism. These findings offer valuable insights into the complex dynamics of cyberbullying and fanaticism within the context of football fandom in Turkey, providing a foundation for future research and potential interventions in this area.