Longitudinal Associations Between Cyberbullying Involvement and Adolescent Mental Health

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• 作者：Amanda E. Fahy ; Ph.D.^a ; ^{amanda.fahy@qmul.ac.uk" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; Stephen A. Stansfeld ; Ph.D.^a ; Melanie Smuk ; Ph.D.^a ; Neil R. Smith ; Ph.D.^a ; ¹ ; Steven Cummins ; Ph.D.^b ; Charlotte Clark ; Ph.D.^a
• 关键词：Adolescence ; Mental health ; Depression ; Social anxiety ; Well-being ; Cyberbullying
• 刊名：Journal of Adolescent Health
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：November 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：59
• 期：5
• 页码：502-509
• 全文大小：346 K

文摘

Cyberbullying differs from face-to-face bullying and may negatively influence adolescent mental health, but there is a lack of definitive research on this topic. This study examines longitudinal associations between cyberbullying involvement and adolescent mental health.

Methods

Participants were 2,480 teenagers taking part in the Olympic Regeneration in East London study. We collected information from participants when they were 12–13 years old and again 1 year later to examine links between involvement in cyberbullying and future symptoms of depression and social anxiety, and mental well-being.

Results

At baseline, 14% reported being cybervictims, 8% reported being cyberbullies, and 20% reported being cyberbully-victims in the previous year. Compared to uninvolved adolescents, cybervictims and cyberbully-victims were significantly more likely to report symptoms of depression (cybervictims: odds ratio [OR] = 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.00, 2.06]; cyberbully-victims: OR = 1.54, 95% CI [1.13, 2.09]) and social anxiety (cybervictims: OR = 1.52, 95% CI [1.11, 2.07]; cyberbully-victims: OR = 1.44, 95% CI [1.10, 1.89]) but not below average well-being (cybervictims: relative risk ratio = 1.28, 95% CI [.86, 1.91]; cyberbully-victims: relative risk ratio = 1.38, 95% CI [.95, 1.99]) at 1 year follow-up, after adjustment for confounding factors including baseline mental health.

Conclusions

This study emphasizes the high prevalence of cyberbullying and the potential of cybervictimization as a risk factor for future depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and below average well-being among adolescents. Future research should identify protective factors and possible interventions to reduce adolescent cyberbullying.