Citation

Chu XW, Fan CY, Lian SL, Zhou ZK. J. Affect. Disord. 2018; 246: 603-610.

Affiliation

Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China; School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China. Electronic address: zhouzk@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2018.12.103

PMID

30605879

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization are associated with adolescents' mental health problems, but the temporal sequence of these relations remains unclear. The present study analyzed the temporal and reciprocal relationships between both types of bullying victimization and six frequent psychosocial problems during adolescence: depression, general anxiety, stress, low self-esteem, social anxiety, and loneliness.

METHODS: A total of 661 Chinese adolescents in grades 7 and 8 at the initial wave of the study responded to the survey items assessing their bullying victimization experiences and self-reported psychosocial problems. This research was conducted at three separate time points, over a year and a half period.

RESULTS: Bullying victimization did not predict adolescents' psychosocial problems. Instead, adolescents with psychosocial problems were more likely to experience bullying victimization. Depression and general anxiety were two common predictors of traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization. Stress was a specific predictor of traditional bullying victimization, whereas self-esteem, social anxiety, and loneliness were specific predictors of cyberbullying victimization. Psychosocial problems did not differentially predict the two types of bullying victimization. Boys with higher levels of loneliness were more likely than girls to experience cyberbullying victimization. LIMITATIONS: The present study is limited in terms of its sample selection and self-reported instruments.

CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes adolescents' psychosocial problems as the potential risk factors for their future bullying victimization. Education professionals should pay special attention to adolescents' mental health problems when formulating bullying interventions and programs.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescents; Cyberbullying; Longitudinal; Psychosocial problems; Traditional bullying