Changes In Cyberbullying Victimization during Universal SEL: The Role of Teacher Social-Emotional Competence

Background and Purpose: Cyberbullying victimization (CBV) is a growing threat to children’s healthy development. Although universal school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programs are widely implemented to improve students' social-emotional competence (SEC) and promote safe and supportive school environments, they might not be sufficient to address the needs of students at higher risk for CBV. Students may follow different CBV change patterns during universal SEL interventions, with changes predicted by baseline vulnerabilities such as poorer mental health, weaker relationship functioning, and lower SEC. In addition, as key adults interacting with students in school and implementers of SEL, teachers’ SEC may serve as an important classroom-level protective factor against students’ bullying experiences in school settings. However, whether teacher SEC is also associated with student cyberbullying outcomes remains underexplored, especially in non-Western contexts where SEL has recently been introduced and implemented. This study explored student’s individual predictors and teacher SEC as a classroom-level predictor of CBV change patterns in the context of universal SEL in Hong Kong primary schools.

Methods: Participants were 624 primary school students (51.4% girls; Grades 3–6) from 20 classrooms across 9 schools in Hong Kong, who completed assessments before and after a six-session universal SEL program designed for bullying prevention. Based on CBV status across two waves, students were classified into four groups: stable non-victimized (73.9%), new-onset victimization (8.8%), remitted victimization (10.7%), and persistent victimization (6.6%). Among students who reported cyberbullying victimization at post-intervention, the most common perpetrator was a same-grade student (43.1%), and most reported having no prior interaction with the perpetrator (75.5%). Multinomial logistic regression examined baseline student- and teacher-level predictors of CBV group membership.

Results: Distinct psychosocial profiles emerged across CBV groups. Compared with the stable non-victimized group, higher student baseline mental health symptoms were associated with greater odds of belonging to the new-onset (OR = 1.13, p < .05), remitted (OR = 1.14, p < .01), and persistent victimization groups (OR = 1.24, p < .001). Lower interpersonal relationship quality predicted new-onset (OR = 0.75, p < .05) and persistent victimization (OR = 0.60, p < .001). Lower baseline SEC predicted persistent victimization (OR = 0.52, p < .05). Importantly, the results suggested that higher teacher SEC at baseline was associated with lower odds of new-onset victimization (OR = 0.44, p < .05).

Conclusions and Implications: Findings suggest that students with greater emotional and relational vulnerabilities may be more susceptible to cyberbullying victimization and may require additional targeted support beyond universal SEL alone. Higher teacher SEC may represent a promising classroom-level asset associated with lower cyberbullying victimization risk alongside SEL practices in school settings. Results support multi-tiered prevention approaches that combine SEL practices with teacher capacity building, early identification of vulnerable students, and targeted support for students experiencing persistent victimization.