(PS10-A18) The Role of Rumination on Cyber IPV Perpetration: The Indirect Effect of Problematic Social Media Use

Lesser is known about the specific risk factors for the perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) through technology. In this sense, rumination has been widely associated with the problematic use of technology (Elhai et al., 2020), which can increase instances of abusive behaviors such as cyberbullying perpetration (Yudes et al., 2020). However, there are no studies exploring the association of these specific factors related to technology with the perpetration of cyber IPV among intimate partners. The present study aimed to explore the impact of rumination on problematic social media use and its impact on the perpetration of cyber IPV.  The sample comprised 291 college students from a University in South Texas in the age range of 18 to 28 years old (M = 19.84, SD = 1.36). Participants predominantly identified as Hispanic (n = 251, 86%) and more than half identified as cisgender woman (n = 194, 67.6%). Mediation analysis was carried out in Mplus 8.4. Around of 45.4% (n = 103) of the participants indicated at least perpetrating one abusive behavior towards their intimate partner through technology. Findings indicated that individuals with higher levels of rumination reported more problematic social media use (β = .35, p < .001) which in turn increases the chances of using technology to abuse and control an intimate partner (β = .18, p < .001; a*b, β = .06, [95% CI = .01 to .13]). The present study findings suggest the creation of campaigns and intervention strategies targeting the use of technology to prevent the perpetration of cyber IPV.