The Relationship between Cyberbullying Victimization and Social Isolation Among Middle-School Students: Moderating Effect of Empathetic (TSL) Communication between Siblings

Background: The prevalence of cyberbullying among adolescents has been on rise globally, and social isolation among adolescents has emerged as a serious societal issue. Adolescents rely on social interactions with peers in digital environments to develop emotional bonds and feel a sense of belonging; however, they are also highly vulnerable to cyberbullying. A key concern is that cyberbullying victimization in online spaces directly affects the adolescents’ lives offline. In such situations, the adolescents may turn to siblings for support, as share the living environment and daily routines, and often represent the closest lifelong companions. Emotional support from siblings plays an important role in helping cyberbullying victims cope with internal struggles and in promoting psychological recovery.

Objective: The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to verify the association between cyberbullying victimization and social isolation among middle school students; and (2) to investigate whether empathetic communication among siblings moderated the association between cyber-bullying victimization and social isolation.

Participants and Setting: A total of 1,000 middle and high school students (male, 46.3%; female, 52.6%) were recruited through purposive sampling from various regions across the country. A survey was conducted for a month between October and November 2023. Parental consent was obtained, as the study involved minors. For the current analysis, data from 338 middle school students living with their siblings were extracted from 413 middle school respondents (1^st grade, 12%; 2^nd grade, 68%; 3^rd grade, 20%).

Methods: The methods of analysis were twofold: (1) to verify pathways from the independent variable (X) to the dependent variable (Y) by regression analysis; and (2) to investigate the moderating effect of bootstrapping using PROCESS macro version 4.2 for SPSS. If 0 is not contained within the 95% confidence interval (CI), the moderating effect is significant.

Results: In the regression analysis, the path from (X) to (Y) was significant (coeff. = .50, 95% CI = .19 to .80). Moreover, empathetic communication between siblings alleviated the positive relationship between cyberbullying and social isolation, serving as a protective factor (coeff. = -.15, 95%; CI = -.26 to -.03).

Conclusions: Cyberbullying victimization among middle school students significantly increases the level of social isolation. Furthermore, siblings’ empathetic communication moderates the link between cyberbullying and social isolation. These findings highlight the importance of family-based interventions, especially for those involving sibling support, to reduce the psychological harm caused by cyberbullying.

Limitations: As the data sample was small, generalizability was difficult.

Keywords: cyberbullying, adolescents, social isolation, sibling support, empathetic communication