Aggression in online gaming: the role of online disinhibition, social dominance orientation, moral disengagement and gender traits among Chinese university students.

Introduction: Aggressive behaviors in the online gaming world are frequent and have far-reaching negative effects.

Method: To explore the factors and mechanisms of aggressive in games, we surveyed 945 university students using a framework of social dominance orientation, online disinhibition, moral disengagement, and aggression in gaming, and examined the moderating role of gender traits.

Results: We found no direct relationship between online disinhibition and aggression in gaming; however, through the mediating role of moral disengagement, online disinhibition indirectly affected aggression in gaming behavior and enhanced social dominance orientation.