Adolescent involvement in face-to-face and cyber victimization: can personal well-being mediate social-emotional behavior?

This study examined the relationships between perceived loneliness, self-efficacy, and subjective well-being as related to students’ experiences as victims of cyber and face-to-face bullying. Participants included 902 students from 18 different Israeli schools, aged 10–18 who completed self-report questionnaires. Results revealed that social loneliness fully affects the experience of cyberbullying through the mediation of well-being. Greater social loneliness decreases the perception of well-being and therefore the probability of cybervictimization increases. Furthermore, social efficacy increases personal well-being, which decreases the likelihood of experiencing cyberbullying. In addition, students experiencing social and emotional loneliness were more likely to be victims of cyber- and face-to-face bullying than students who were not lonely. Age was found to be an overall indicator for the probability of exposure to bullying and being a victim. The current findings suggested that boys who are more socially effective perceive their well-being higher than girls, and these higher perceptions lead them to a higher immunity to, or a lower experience of cyber bullying. This indirect effect is fully operated through the mediators. Boys experience greater social and emotional loneliness than girls, but perceive their well-being more highly than girls. Boys also experience more face-to-face victimization, but not more cybervictimization compared to girls.