The Impact of Cyberbullying Victimization on Adolescents’ School-Related Distress Across Nine Countries: Examining the Mitigating Role of Teacher Support

Shaghayegh Sheri McVay (), Jonathan Santo and Hannah Lydiatt
Additional contact information
Shaghayegh Sheri McVay: Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182, USA
Jonathan Santo: Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182, USA
Hannah Lydiatt: Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182, USA

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: The pervasive integration of technology into the daily lives of children and adolescents, coupled with the popularity and extensive use of social media by this age group, has raised significant concerns, highlighting cyberbullying victimization as a serious global public health issue that requires further investigation. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of cyberbullying victimization above and beyond traditional forms of peer victimization on adolescents’ school-related distress using a sample of 28,883 adolescents across nine countries. This study also assessed the moderating role of teacher support on the association between cyberbullying victimization and school-related distress. The results of structural equation modeling suggested that adolescents who experienced higher levels of victimization (both traditional and cyber) scored significantly higher on school-related distress. In addition, the main effect of cyberbullying victimization above and beyond traditional forms of peer victimization on school-related distress was significant. More importantly, cyberbullied victims who perceived their teachers as supportive reported lower school-related distress compared to their peers with low teacher support. As technology continues to become more accessible in both homes and educational settings, the findings of this study underscore the need to address cyberbullying as a distinct phenomenon posing unique challenges for adolescents and requiring targeted intervention strategies. In addition, the findings contribute to understanding a more comprehensive portrait of adolescent development and how social support influences adolescents’ well-being.

Keywords: cyberbullying victimization; peer victimization; teacher support; adolescents; school-related distress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/9/559/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/9/559/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:9:p:559-:d:1752488

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().