Cyberbullying and Psychological Complications: Assessing the Effect Sizes of Alcohol Consumption, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation

Background: Cyberbullying increases risks of alcohol consumption, depression, and suicidal ideation, yet data quantifying these exact effect sizes remain notably limited. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cyberbullying victimization among Malaysian adults and evaluate its psychological and behavioral correlates. Specifically, to quantify the exact effect sizes associated with clinical depression, suicidal ideation, and alcohol use. Methods: A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted among 3,098 Malaysian adults (aged 18 or older) recruited via social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Data were collected from July 2023 to November 2024 using validated instruments: the Malay-validated Cyberbullying Victimization Scale (CVS), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and measures of alcohol use frequency. Chi-square tests of independence and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed, with fixed-effect Omega squared (ω²) calculated to determine the precise magnitude of the associations. Results: Descriptive analysis revealed that 74.3% (n = 2,303) of participants experienced repeated cyberbullying, with 5.9% reporting chronic victimization. Cyberbullying victimization was significantly associated with socio-demographic factors, including age, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, and marital status, as well as social media usage behaviors. Gender and employment status showed no significant differences. One-way ANOVAs demonstrated that cyberbullying victimization had highly statistically significant associations with all examined outcomes (p < 0.001). Most notably, cyberbullying explained approximately 19.8% of the variance in alcohol consumption (ω² = 0.198, F = 30.40), representing a substantial behavioral association. It also accounted for 2.0% of the variance in depression (ω² = 0.020, F = 3.46) and 1.5% of the variance in suicidal ideation (ω² = 0.015, F = 2.78). Conclusions: Cyberbullying represents a severe public health concern for Malaysian adults, contributing heavily to maladaptive coping (alcohol use) and psychiatric complications. Addressing this issue requires multidisciplinary interventions, legal reinforcement, and integrating routine psychological screenings to deploy targeted early clinical support.

Cyberbullying victimization, Clinical depression, Suicidal ideation, Alcohol use, Malaysian adults

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