Over the past two decades, young people’s engagement in online activities has grown markedly. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between two specific online behaviors (i.e., cyberbullying perpetration, problematic social media use) and their relationships with social connectedness, belongingness, depression, and self-esteem among high school and university students. Data were collected from two different study groups via two questionnaires that included the Cyberbullying Offending Scale, Social Media Use Questionnaire, Social Connectedness Scale, General Belongingness Scale, Short Depression-Happiness Scale, and Single Item Self-Esteem Scale. Study 1 comprised 804 high school students (48% female; mean age 16.20 years). Study 2 comprised 760 university students (60% female; mean age 21.48 years). Results indicated that problematic social media use and cyberbullying perpetration (which was stronger among high school students) were directly associated with each other. Belongingness (directly) and social connectedness (indirectly) were both associated with cyberbullying perpetration and problematic social media use. Path analysis demonstrated that while age was a significant direct predictor of problematic social media use and cyberbullying perpetration among university students, it was not significant among high school students. In both samples, depression was a direct predictor of problematic social media use and an indirect predictor of cyberbullying perpetration. However, majority of these associations were relatively weak. The present study significantly adds to the emerging body of literature concerning the associations between problematic social media use and cyberbullying perpetration.

Recent developments have made the relationship between individuals, technology, and technological devices much closer. Although the Internet does not have a long history, it has become indispensable in contemporary day-to-day life. Nowadays, social media platforms are the most popular and widely used applications used on the Internet (Kemp 2017). According to the Internet usage results report of Wearesocial and Hootsuite digital marketing agency published in January 2017, the number of active social media users has increased by 21% all over the world compared with the previous year (Kemp 2017). Although social media is used for positive purposes such as meeting new people and socializing, maintaining existing relationships, and informational and educational purposes (Horzum 2016), some individuals (including high-risk groups such as students) demonstrate problematic online behaviors that may negatively affect them (Kuss et al. 2014). Cyberbullying perpetration (CBP) and problematic social media use (PSMU) are considered two such potential risky behaviors (Ayas et al. 2016). Using the problem behavior theory (PBT), the present study examines the relationship between PSMU and CBP and their relationships to social connectedness, general belongingness, depression, and self-esteem among high school and university students.