Traditional bullying typically occurs in schools and has been associated
with a myriad of mental health problems. Recent evidence has indicated
that cyberbullying may just be traditional bullying that is extended to
the online world, but this possibility has received only limited study
in Asian countries. This study explored the co-occurrence of traditional
and cybervictimization and its association with mental health among
3319 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years in Singapore. Victims of bullying
were categorized into mutually exclusive groups: traditional-only
victims, cyber-only victims, or combined traditional and cybervictims.
Results indicated that there were substantial overlaps between
victimization in traditional bullying and cyberbullying and that
traditional victimization was more prevalent than cybervictimization.
Being a victim of either form of bullying (i.e., traditional-only or
cyber-only victims) was associated with higher reports of internalizing
and externalizing problems, and combined traditional and cybervictims
reported the most internalizing problems. However, there were no
significant differences in problem scores between traditional-only
victims and cyber-only victims. The findings highlight the need to
consider the extensive overlap between traditional and
cybervictimization when investigating their differential association
with adolescents’ mental health. Prevention and intervention efforts by
school staff and mental health practitioners need to target both
traditional bullying and cyberbullying in an integrated manner, and
extra attention should be provided to adolescents who are victims of
both forms of bullying.