An investigation of the effectiveness and determinants of seeking support among adolescent victims of cyberbullying

The purpose of this study is to investigate longitudinal associations between seeking social support and cyberbullying victimization and between seeking social support and internalizing problems. A two-wave panel study was conducted among 2,128 adolescents aged 10-17. Across-lagged panel analysis among those adolescents who indicated being a victim at Time 1 (N = 234) demonstrates that seeking support is associated with lower cyberbullying victimization six months later. However, this seems only true for seeking support from friends and not from parents or teachers. Furthermore, the model shows that adolescents who fear being negatively evaluated by peers are less inclined to seek support from friends, whereas adolescents with high self-esteem are less likely to seek support from parents and teachers. Implications and limitations are discussed. (C) 2018 Western Social Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.