Introduction: The present study aimed to examine the relationship between social anxiety and social withdrawal with bullying victimization, considering the mediating role of emotion regulation among secondary school students.
Methods: This correlational-descriptive study was conducted among all secondary school students in Eslamshahr city the 2024–2025 academic year. A total of 368 students were randomly selected using a multistage cluster sampling method. Data were collected using the California Bullying Victimization Questionnaire (Felix et al., 2011), the Social Anxiety Scale (Jerabek, 1996), the Social Withdrawal Questionnaire (Chelpi & Amirkafi, 2004), and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003). The proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) with SPSS 26 and AMOS 24.
Results: Findings indicated significant relationships between social anxiety (β = 0.30, p = 0.01), social withdrawal (β = 0.25, p = 0.05), and emotion regulation (β = -0.50, p < 0.001) with bullying victimization. Additionally, social anxiety (β = -0.45, p < 0.001) and social withdrawal (β = -0.40, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with emotion regulation. Emotion regulation was found to mediate the relationship between social anxiety (β = -0.22, p < 0.001) and social withdrawal (β = -0.20, p < 0.001) with bullying victimization.
Conclusion: The results suggest that social anxiety and social withdrawal can increase the risk of being victimized by bullying, while emotion regulation serves as an effective mediating factor that can mitigate this relationship. Enhancing emotion regulation skills in students may help reduce the negative impacts of bullying in school settings.