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. 2025 Sep 26;13(1):1030.
doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-03338-z.

The mediating role of cyber victimization in the effect of perceived social support on cyberbullying in university students

Pınar Tektaş  1 , Elif Deniz Kaçmaz  2
Affiliations

The mediating role of cyber victimization in the effect of perceived social support on cyberbullying in university students

Pınar Tektaş et al. BMC Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to determine the mediating role of cyber victimization in the effect of perceived social support on cyberbullying among university students.

Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study used the STROBE checklist. The population of this cross-sectional study consisted of 864 students studying at the health sciences faculty of a state university. Descriptive information form, Revised Cyberbullying Inventory for University Students and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were used as data collection tools.

Results: As the perceived social support level increases, the level of cyber victimization decreases. As the level of cyber victimization of individuals increases, the level of cyberbullying also increases. As the perceived social support level increases, the level of cyberbullying decreases. While perceived social support has a reducing effect on cyberbullying, cyber victimization functions to reduce this effect.

Conclusions: Social support is an important factor in reducing cyberbullying; however, cyber victimization reduces this positive effect. It is recommended to carry out studies that will activate the social support resources of university students, to increase the activities that will support social relations in universities, to support people who have experienced cyber victimization to share their experiences and to receive psychological help when necessary.

Keywords: Cyberbullying; Cybervictimization; Social support; Students.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Approval for this study was given by the ethics committee of Izmir Bakırçay University Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee to conduct the study (Decision no:758, Date: 09.11.2022), institutional permission was obtained from the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of İzmir Bakırçay University (No: E-99838568-000-2200036679, Date: 18.11.2022), for the scales to be used, permission was obtained from the researchers who developed the scales via e-mail and written informed consent was obtained from the participants. Since all participants were over 16 years of age, it was not necessary to obtain permission from their parents. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Research Model and Hypotheses. X: social support, Y: cyberbullying, M: Cyber victimization. In the proposed model, social support (X) is hypothesized to influence cyberbullying (Y), with cyber victimization (M) functioning as a mediating variable
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Measurement model for the Revised Cyberbullying Inventory for University Students - Cyberbullying Scale (Cyberbullying Scale Measurement Model)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Measurement Model for the Revised Cyberbullying Inventory for University Students – Cyber Victimization Scale (Cyber ​​Victimization Scale Measurement Model)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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