AI Insight
This cross-sectional study of 1,458 Omani adolescents found high rates of traditional bullying (35.9% perpetration, 53.5% victimization) and moderate rates of cyberbullying (9.7% perpetration, 19.9% victimization), with 28.5% showing high social network addiction scores. Adolescents with non-typical development showed different patterns than typically developing peers, being more likely to engage in verbal bullying and experience verbal/social victimization, but less likely to engage in physical/social bullying perpetration, cybervictimization, or problematic social network use. Social network addiction mediated the relationship between traditional and cyberbullying only in typically developing adolescents, not in those with non-typical development.
Why it matters
These findings highlight the need for differentiated anti-bullying interventions that account for developmental differences among adolescents. Understanding that social network addiction plays different roles across developmental profiles can inform more effective, tailored prevention strategies in schools, particularly in understudied Middle Eastern contexts.
Understand the Science
IntroductionResearch on the prevalence of school bullying, cyberbullying, and social network addiction in Arab countries is limited. In Oman, these issues are of significant concern due to the country’s unique sociocultural context.MethodsThis cross-sectional study examines the prevalence and associations between bullying, cyberbullying, and social network addiction among Omani adolescents with typical development (TD) and non-typical development (NTD). The study included a convenience sample of 1,458 students (50.2% female; mean age = 14.04 years; SD = 0.20) from grades 9-10 in public schools. Data were collected using the Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument, the Revised Cyber Bullying Inventory-II, and the Social Network Addiction Scale.ResultsFindings revealed high levels of traditional bullying (35.9% perpetration; 53.5% victimization), with verbal aggression being the most prevalent form of both perpetration and victimization. Cyberbullying rates were moderate (9.7% perpetration; 19.9% victimization), consistent with international and regional data. Furthermore, 28.5% of adolescents met the study criterion for high social network addiction scores. Logistic regression analyses indicated that adolescents with NTD were more likely to report verbal bullying perpetration and verbal/social victimization, but less likely to report physical and social bullying perpetration, cybervictimization, or to meet the study criterion for high social network addiction scores than their TD peers. Significant cross-sectional indirect associations between traditional bullying and cyberbullying outcomes through problematic social network use were observed in the TD group, whereas the corresponding indirect associations were not statistically significant in the NTD group.ConclusionThese findings underscore the need for tailored prevention strategies that address different patterns of association in adolescents with diverse developmental profiles.