Cyber-Psychopathy Trait as Predictor of Cybersex Addiction among University Students

The previous studies have established a link between dark triad personality traits and cybersex addiction. However, there is a scarcity of studies on the link between psychopathy and cybersex addiction. Therefore, the present study was conducted to find an association and to predict cybersex addiction from psychopathy. 160 undergraduate students from the Baghdad campus of Islamia University of Bahawalpur were recruited randomly to participate in the study. All the participating students signed the informed consent form before taking part in the study. The locally standardized versions of The Internet Addiction Test – Sex (IAT-Sex) and Cyber-Psychopathy Scale (CPS) were used to collect the data. The data was analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, v 25) and expressed in the form of correlation, regression analysis, and t-test. The study found a significant positive correlation between psychopathy and cybersex addiction. Psychopathy significantly predicted cybersex addiction. Moreover, the male students showed more psychopathy and cybersex addiction than female students. The students of 21-22 years were found to show more psychopathy and cybersex addiction as compared to students of other age groups. The study proposed that future studies be conducted with a broader sample from other universities and by including other demographic variables to make the results generalizable to a larger population.