Mitigating cyberbullying’s impact on children’s well-being: The roles of digital literacy and cognitive emotion regulation

Extensive online exposure of children has led to an increasing incidence of cyberbullying, which can have adverse effects on their well-being. This study investigated the roles of digital literacy and cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies on children’s subjective well-being under different forms of cyberbullying experiences (i.e., perpetration, victimization, and bystander). Data were collected from 1767 primary students (49.12% girls) from Hong Kong using a self-reported survey on cyberbullying experiences, CER strategies, and subjective well-being, and a performance-based assessment on digital literacy. A parallel mediation model was employed to examine whether cyberbullying experiences mediate the effects of digital literacy on well-being, with subsequent moderated mediation models utilized to investigate whether CER strategies moderate the relationships between cyberbullying experiences and well-being. Results showed that (1) digital literacy positively predicted well-being; (2) students with higher digital literacy reported lower levels of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization, resulting in better well-being; (3) both adaptive and maladaptive CER strategies positively predicted well-being; and (4) only maladaptive CER strategies buffered the negative relationships between cyberbullying perpetration or victimization and well-being. This study highlights the importance of digital literacy and CER strategies in promoting children’s well-being under cyberbullying experiences, which can inform relevant educational policies and intervention programs.