Unravelling the Complex Nexus Between Technology Addiction, Cyber Victimization, Cyber Bullying, and Self-Esteem among Young People: A Multifaceted Study

This study examined the complex relationships between technology addiction, cyberbullying, cyber victimization, and self-esteem among young individuals. The sample consisted of 335 undergraduate students—mostly female—from universities in Konya with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The study analyzed descriptive factors such as time spent on social media, websites, digital applications, and online gaming and assessed their predictive power through correlation and hierarchical regression analyses. Findings revealed that self-esteem did not directly predict cyberbullying, while online gaming addiction and cyber victimization emerged as more significant predictors. Students with habitual gaming behavior exhibited higher technology addiction scores. Additionally, male participants showed significantly higher mean scores for both cyberbullying and cyber victimization, whereas female participants had significantly higher mean scores for self-esteem. Those who regularly played games or used social media also reported higher levels of cyberbullying and victimization. Importantly, the study found that cyber victimization significantly mediated the relationship between self-esteem and technology addiction, suggesting that addressing cyber victimization may indirectly enhance self-esteem and reduce technology dependency. The study’s limitations include its descriptive nature and the absence of measures related to coping mechanisms and stress levels. The study emphasizes the need for more comprehensive analyses to understand the longitudinal characteristics of these phenomena across different age groups.