Investigating the Relationship between Cyberbullying and Academic Performance Among University Students: The Moderating Role of Emotional Regulation

Abstract

The shift to a digital-age has raised invisible threats to the cyber-world, impacting not just the academic performance but the emotional wellbeing as well. Using a quantitative study, data were collected from 250 undergraduate and graduate students aged 18 to 25 through structured questionnaires. The study considers the involvement of different factors such as age, gender, semester, screen time, use of psychiatric medication, parental awareness and history of brain injury that can have a potential impact on cyberbullying experience. The findings revealed a significant negative relationship between cyberbullying and academic performance, indicating that higher engagement in cyberbullying, either as a victim or perpetrator, is related with poorer academic and lower levels of emotional regulation, while at higher level, the effect was reduced. Furthermore, the study revealed that a majority of participants were females sand undergraduates from Islamabad experiencing more cyberbullying. Users of dual or triple platforms had poorer emotional regulation with Instagram reported as the most common platform. Moreover, increased screen time demonstrated high levels of emotional regulation skills. The study lays the foundation for future research and may contribute in studying the long-term patterns of cyberbullying experiences, analyzing the impact of different coping styles using an in-depth qualitative study.

Keywords: Cyberbullying, Academic Performance, Emotional Regulation, Gender Differences, University Students, Quantitative Research, Coping Styles