Behind the screens: Cyber Behaviors, Personality Traits, and Well-being among Emerging Adults in the United Arab Emirates
- Autores: Areej Mohamed Adel Gaber Elsayary
- Directores de la Tesis: Juan Calmaestra Villén (dir. tes.), Mercedes Gómez López (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universidad de Córdoba (ESP) ( España ) en 2026
- Idioma: inglés
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Olga Gómez Ortiz (presid.), Joaquín Rodríguez Ruiz (secret.), Ana Álvarez Muelas (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Sociales y Jurídicas por la Universidad de Córdoba
- Materias:
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
- Resumen
The widespread integration of digital technologies into daily life has reshaped how young people, often referred to as “digital natives,” communicate, interact, and experience the world. This is due to their high engagement in a wide range of online activities. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there is a high exposure to technology in response to national agenda initiatives. Although these digital environments provide opportunities for learning, socialization, and entertainment, they also raise significant challenges. This thesis investigates the complex relationship between specific cyber behaviors, including online moral disengagement (OMD), problematic internet use (PIU), online disinhibition (OD), and cyberbullying (CB), and both hedonic (emotional) and eudaimonic (social and psychological) well-being. Furthermore, personality traits and gender differences are examined as key moderating factors shaping these relationships across three sequential studies.
This thesis is grounded in complementary theoretical frameworks drawn from cyberpsychology, personality psychology, and positive psychology. The study is informed by the OD framework, which explains how anonymity and reduced social cues influence cyber behavior, and by Social Cognitive Theory, which highlights the interaction between individual personality traits and environmental factors in shaping cyber behaviors. The Compensatory Internet Use framework further explains how individuals may engage with digital technologies to regulate emotions and address unmet psychological needs. Finally, positive psychology provides a multifaceted conceptualization of well-being, including both hedonic and eudaimonic dimensions. These frameworks provide an integrated foundation for examining the interconnection of cyber behaviors, personality traits, and well-being.
Despite growing research on cyber behaviors and well-being, significant gaps remain. Most studies examine cyber behaviors in isolation rather than integrating multiple behaviors. Research has also been dominated by Western, individualistic samples, limiting generalizability to collectivistic cultures. Although personality has been examined as a moderator, findings remain inconsistent, particularly regarding gender differences. Furthermore, much research focuses on psychopathology rather than well-being as a multidimensional construct encompassing both positive and negative mental health outcomes.
Therefore, the general objective of this research was to examine the relationships between cyber behaviors, personality traits, and psychological well-being among emerging adults in the UAE. Specifically, this thesis addresses these gaps by examining multiple cyber behaviors simultaneously, integrating personality traits and gender as moderators, measuring well-being in a multidimensional manner, and focusing on a non-Western, collectivistic context. The UAE is a particularly relevant context due to its rapid digital adoption, multicultural population, and extensive internet penetration.
The thesis employed a multi-phase mixed-methods design involving three sequential studies. Study 1 is a systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizing international evidence on the relationship between personality traits and cyber behaviors. This study included 45 studies with 24,627 participants. This is followed by two cross-sectional studies conducted in the UAE. Study 2 surveyed 671 university students to examine the direct relationships between cyber behaviors and well-being dimensions (emotional, social, and psychological), with gender serving as a moderator. Study 3 used the same sample to examine Big Five personality traits as moderators of the relationship between cyber behaviors and both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.
The results of Study 1 showed that neuroticism and Dark Tetrad traits were consistently associated with harmful cyber behaviors, whereas conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness were generally protective. Gender moderated several relationships. Study 2 demonstrated that cyber behaviors significantly predicted well-being, with CB emerging as the strongest negative correlate, particularly among males. OD and PIU showed complex relationships with well-being, with small positive correlations to social well-being. Study 3 revealed that cybervictimization and cyberaggression negatively predicted both forms of well-being, while PIU and benign disinhibition showed positive associations. Personality traits moderated these relationships, with agreeableness and conscientiousness acting as protective factors, and openness and neuroticism showing more complex effects.
