Table 4.

Analysis of discriminant validity.

Construct	Correlation and square roots of AVE
	Perceived maliciousness	Gender	Age	Morality	Empathy	Attitude	Issue involvement	Reading amount	Perceived peer’ behavior on malicious commenting	Presence of malicious comments
Perceived maliciousness	0.971
Gender	0.150*	n/a
Age	−0.066*	−0.005	n/a
Morality	0.087**	−0.044	0.053	0.836
Empathy	0.237**	0.099**	0.124**	0.524**	00.894
Attitude	−0.052	−0.024	−0.044	0.215**	0.131**	00.856
Issue involvement	−0.083**	−0.284**	0.012	0.116**	0.054	0.210**	0.959
Reading amount	0.179**	0.015	−0.168**	0.133**	0.159**	0.285**	0.099**	n/a
Perceived peer’ behavior on malicious commenting	−0.173**	−0.143**	−0.013	−0.044	−0.114**	0.228**	0.054	0.090**	0.899
Presence of malicious comment	−0.027	0.000	−0.004	0.015	−0.060	0.013	0.014	−0.065*	−0.017	n/a

Square root of AVEs on the diagonal; *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.