The Association Between Social Media Use and Cyberbullying Victimization and Perpetration Among Children and Adolescents: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between social media use and cyberbullying victimization and perpetration among children and adolescents, yet a definitive consensus remains elusive, and a comprehensive synthesis of the evidence is still lacking. The current study conducted a three-level meta-analysis to aggregate existing findings and examine potential moderators to identify sources of heterogeneity. A systematic literature search yielded 62 studies comprising 110 cross-sectional effect sizes (67 for victimization, 43 for perpetration) and 15 longitudinal effect sizes from a total of 184,259 children and adolescents. Cross-sectional analyses revealed that social media use was significantly positively associated with both cyberbullying victimization ( r  = .220) and perpetration ( r  = .239). Longitudinal evidence showed a smaller but significant effect for the relationship between social media use and cyberbullying victimization ( r  = .130). Clinical status emerged as a significant moderator. Specifically, the associations were substantially stronger in clinical samples (e.g., Major Depressive Disorder; Anxiety Disorder) compared to non-clinical samples (victimization: r  = .641 vs. 0.204; perpetration: r  = .531 vs. .229). Together, these findings provide more comprehensive and robust empirical evidence regarding the links between social media use and cyberbullying victimization and perpetration. They also underscore the importance of considering individual vulnerabilities and highlight the need for tailored interventions targeting at-risk populations.