TY - JOUR PY - 2018// TI - Cyberbullying victimization and its association with health across the life course: a Canadian population study JO - Canadian journal of public health A1 - Kim, Soyeon A1 - Boyle, Michael H. A1 - Georgiades, Katholiki SP - e468 EP - e474 VL - 108 IS - 5-6 N2 - OBJECTIVES: To examine the prevalence of cyberbullying victimization (CV), its associations with self-reported health and substance use and the extent to which age moderates these associations.

METHODS: We used the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization (N = 31 907, mean age = 45.83, SD = 18.67) and binary logistic regression models to estimate the strength of association between CV and health-related outcomes.

RESULTS: The five-year prevalence of CV was 5.1%. Adolescents reported the highest prevalence of CV (12.2%), compared to all other adult age groups (1.7%-10.4%). After controlling for socio-demographic covariates, individuals exposed to CV had increased odds of reporting poor mental health (OR = 4.259, 95% CI = 2.853-6.356), everyday limitations due to mental health problems (OR = 3.263, 95% CI = 2.271-4.688), binge drinking (OR = 2.897, 95% CI = 1.765-4.754), and drug use (OR = 3.348, 95% CI = 2.333-4.804), compared to those not exposed to CV. The associations between CV and self-reported mental health and substance use were strongest for adolescents and attenuated across the adult age groups.

CONCLUSION: Adolescence may represent a developmental period of heightened susceptibility to CV. Developing and evaluating targeted preventive interventions for this age group is warranted.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0008-4263 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -