Abstract Previous research demonstrated that cyberbullying victimization is uniquely associated with the development of internalizing problems, controlling for offline bullying victimization. However, the moderating role of family and school factors in this relation remained unexplored. This meta-analysis aimed to further investigate the distinct role of cyberbullying victimization in developing internalizing problems among children and adolescents, while accounting for offline bullying victimization and the potential roles of participant-level family and school factors as moderators in this association. Building on the study of Barlett et al. (2024), the search strings and eligibility criteria were revised to align with the objectives of the current study. Studies related to the outcomes of cyberbullying victimization in Barlett et al. (2024) and the same databases were screened with updated criteria. The final dataset comprised 57 studies (109 effect sizes) for the main effect analysis, 10 studies (29 effect sizes) for family- and school-related protective factors, and eight studies (52 effect sizes) for family- and school-related risk factors in the moderation analyses. The findings of the main effect analysis supported the unique role of cyberbullying victimization in developing internalizing problems, independent of offline bullying victimization. However, no significant moderating effects of family and school-related risk and protective factors were found. The findings were discussed in relation to gaps in the existing literature and the roles of contextual factors in intervening in the outcomes of cyberbullying victimization.
Özbek et al. (Tue,) studied this question.