When Microaggression Goes Online: Social Media Addiction as a Mediator to Cyberbullying and Victimisation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: ABSTRACT Cyberbullying poses substantial risks to adolescents' mental health, but research remains limited on how offline microaggression victimisation translates into harmful online behaviours and the underlying psychological mechanisms. This study aimed to examine whether microaggression victimisation predicts adolescents' cyberbullying perpetration and cybervictimisation, and to verify the mediating role of social media addiction. Survey data from 804 junior high school students in Shenzhen China were analysed using structural equation modelling, covering six microaggression domains, social media addiction and cyberbullying‐related variables. Results indicated that microaggression victimisation significantly predicted higher levels of both cyberbullying perpetration and victimisation, with social media addiction exerting a partial mediating effect: Adolescents experiencing microaggressions tended to adopt maladaptive social media use, thereby increasing their propensity for online aggression and vulnerability to being victimised. These findings underscore the continuity between offline social stress and online behavioural risks, identifying microaggressions as a key risk factor and social media addiction as an intervenable mechanism for anti‐cyberbullying interventions.
Source: Child & Family Social Work
DOI: 10.1111/cfs.70286
Authors: Yang Luo, Hao Wen, Yuhang Liu
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7214558795