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. 2025 Jun 4;15(6):100.
doi: 10.3390/ejihpe15060100.

Exploring Traditional and Cyberbullying Profiles in Omani Adolescents: Differences in Internalizing/Externalizing Symptoms, Prosocial Behaviors, and Academic Performance

Ahmed Al Saidi  1   2 , Claudio Longobardi  3 , Matteo Angelo Fabris  3 , Sofia Mastrokoukou  4 , Shanyan Lin  3
Affiliations

Exploring Traditional and Cyberbullying Profiles in Omani Adolescents: Differences in Internalizing/Externalizing Symptoms, Prosocial Behaviors, and Academic Performance

Ahmed Al Saidi et al. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. .

Abstract

In the digital age, adolescents spend considerable time online, heightening their exposure to both cyberbullying and traditional bullying. However, few studies have investigated both forms of victimization simultaneously, particularly regarding their impact on adolescents in Middle Eastern countries such as Oman. This study used latent profile analysis to identify victimization profiles based on indicators of verbal, social, physical, and cyberbullying victimization. The participants included 1204 Omani students (604 girls, 50.2%; M = 14.04, SD = 0.20, aged 14-15). Three victimization profiles emerged: (1) non-victims (n = 989, 82.1%), (2) traditional victims (n = 156, 13.0%), and (3) dual victims (n = 59, 4.9%). The BCH approach revealed that adolescents in the non-victims profile, with the lowest levels of both traditional and cyberbullying victimization, reported the lowest levels of internalizing (M = 10.14, SD = 0.11) and externalizing symptoms (M = 10.36, SD = 0.10) and the highest academic performance (M = 4.59, SD = 0.02), whereas their prosocial behaviors were relatively low (M = 4.71, SD = 0.08). Adolescents in the traditional victims' profile had moderate levels on nearly all outcomes. Adolescents in the dual victims' profile, who experienced both traditional and cyberbullying, reported the highest levels of behavioral symptoms (Minternalizing = 11.94, SDinternalizing = 0.34; Mexternalizing = 12.81, SDexternalizing = 0.38) and prosocial behaviors (M = 5.63, SD = 0.36), along with the lowest academic performance (M = 4.37, SD = 0.11). These findings underscore the need for culturally sensitive, multi-level interventions to protect Omani adolescents from both traditional and cyberbullying and to support their academic and psychosocial well-being.

Keywords: Omani adolescent; academic performance; bullying victimization; cyberbullying; externalizing symptoms; internalizing symptoms; prosocial behaviors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Z-scores of the indicators in each profile. Note, the longitudinal axis is the z-score of each indicator.
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