Introduction: In today's world, bullying has taken on a new form known as cyberbullying. Similar to traditional bullying, cyberbullying can have severe consequences on its victims. Therefore, with the widespread availability of technology, especially among adolescents, there is a greater need than ever to investigate the causes of victimization and the reasons behind this type of bullying. The primary objectives of this study were to examine the correlation between emotional-social competence and bullying in cyberspace and to investigate the relationship between emotional-social competence and cyber victimization.

Methods: This study was both cross-sectional and correlational in nature. The statistical population included all male and female high school students in their first and second years of the academic year 1398-1399 throughout the country. The sampling was done using the snowball method. To gather data, the Antoniadou Cyber Bullying Experience Questionnaire (CBEVQ) and Zhou and J Emotional-Social Competence Questionnaire (SCEQ) were used. The data was analyzed using SPSS25 software along with the Spearman, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests.

Results: In this research, a total of one-thousand, one-hundred-seven students participated, and fifty-one and nine-tenths percent of them were boys. The participants had a mean age of fifteen and sixty-six hundredths, and the largest group was second-year high school students, accounting for sixty-two and six-tenths of the total. The study found that there is a significant relationship between emotional and social competence and bullying and victimization in cyberspace. Among the five components of emotional-social competence, four of them, including self-awareness, self-management, relationship management, and responsible decision-making, showed a significant relationship with bullying and victimization in cyberspace. However, the component of social awareness did not show a significant relationship. The study also found that there was no difference based on gender in the discussion of bullying and victimization.

Conclusions: Due to the rise in the use of communication tools during the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents are now at a higher risk of injuries than ever before, due to technological advancements. The findings of this research align with previous studies and indicate that emotional-social competence is a critical factor in cyberbullying behavior and cyber victimization among high school students in Iran.