Longitudinal Associations Between Cyberbullying Involvement and Adolescent Mental Health.

PURPOSE 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.

[1]  André Melzer,et al.  Are Cyberbullies Less Empathic? Adolescents' Cyberbullying Behavior and Empathic Responsiveness , 2011, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[2]  Stephanie J. C. Taylor,et al.  The Olympic Regeneration in East London (ORiEL) study: protocol for a prospective controlled quasi-experiment to evaluate the impact of urban regeneration on young people and their families , 2012, BMJ Open.

[3]  Elizabeth Allen,et al.  Brief report: Cyberbullying perpetration and its associations with socio-demographics, aggressive behaviour at school, and mental health outcomes. , 2014, Journal of adolescence.

[4]  Justin W. Patchin,et al.  Offline Consequences of Online Victimization , 2007 .

[5]  Leslie Haddon,et al.  Net children go mobile: the UK report: a comparative report with findings from the UK 2010 survey by EU Kids Online , 2014 .

[6]  Harvey Goldstein,et al.  REALCOM-IMPUTE Software for Multilevel Multiple Imputation with Mixed Response Types , 2011 .

[7]  Michele L. Ybarra,et al.  Examining the overlap in internet harassment and school bullying: implications for school intervention. , 2007, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[8]  G. Zimet,et al.  The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support , 1988 .

[9]  P. Valkenburg,et al.  Online communication among adolescents: an integrated model of its attraction, opportunities, and risks. , 2011, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[10]  P. Slee,et al.  Victims’ perceptions of traditional and cyberbullying, and the psychosocial correlates of their victimisation , 2012 .

[11]  P. Slee,et al.  Do cyberbullies suffer too? Cyberbullies’ perceptions of the harm they cause to others and to their own mental health , 2013 .

[12]  D. Olweus.  Cyberbullying: An overrated phenomenon? , 2012 .

[13]  Matthew W. Savage,et al.  Prevalence and Predictors of Cyberbullying Perpetration by High School Seniors , 2014 .

[14]  S. N. Gabhainn,et al.  Assessing the use of the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) among Irish schoolchildren. , 2007, Irish medical journal.

[15]  Sameer Hinduja,et al.  Cyberbullying among adolescents: implications for empirical research. , 2013, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[16]  Manuel Gámez-Guadix,et al.  Longitudinal and reciprocal relations of cyberbullying with depression, substance use, and problematic internet use among adolescents. , 2013, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[17]  Peter K. Smith,et al.  Annual research review: Harms experienced by child users of online and mobile technologies: the nature, prevalence and management of sexual and aggressive risks in the digital age. , 2014, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[18]  K. Ranta,et al.  The Mini-Social Phobia Inventory: psychometric properties in an adolescent general population sample. , 2012, Comprehensive psychiatry.

[19]  Roger A. Sugden,et al.  Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys , 1988 .

[20]  Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala,et al.  Major health-related behaviours and mental well-being in the general population: the Health Survey for England , 2014, BMJ Open.

[21]  S. Perren,et al.  Peer victimisation and depressive symptoms: can specific coping strategies buffer the negative impact of cybervictimisation? , 2012 .

[22]  Hildegunn Fandrem,et al.  Emotional Problems in Traditional and Cyber Victimization , 2016 .

[23]  C. Spiel,et al.  Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying Identification of Risk Groups for Adjustment Problems , 2009 .

[24]  Brendesha M. Tynes,et al.  Longitudinal Associations Between Cybervictimization and Mental Health Among U.S. Adolescents. , 2015, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[25]  Alessio Zambon,et al.  The Family Affluence Scale as a Measure of National Wealth: Validation of an Adolescent Self-Report Measure , 2006 .

[26]  F. Mishna,et al.  Risk Factors for involvement in cyber bullying: Victims, bullies, and bully-victims , 2012 .

[27]  Elisheva F. Gross,et al.  Extending the school grounds?--Bullying experiences in cyberspace. , 2008, The Journal of school health.

[28]  C. Poulin,et al.  An examination of the validity of the Family Affluence Scale II (FAS II) in a general adolescent population of Canada , 2009 .

[29]  Adrian Angold,et al.  Development of a Short Questionnaire for Use in Epidemiological Studies of Depression in Children and Adolescents: Factor Composition and Structure Across Development. , 1995 .

[30]  J. Suler.  The Online Disinhibition Effect , 2004, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

[31]  Juliana Raskauskas,et al.  Involvement in traditional and electronic bullying among adolescents. , 2007, Developmental psychology.

[32]  Robert S. Tokunaga,et al.  Following you home from school: A critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[33]  Ellen M. Selkie,et al.  Cyberbullying Prevalence Among US Middle and High School-Aged Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Quality Assessment. , 2016, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[34]  L. Hiller,et al.  The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS): development and UK validation , 2007, Health and quality of life outcomes.

[35]  J. Davidson,et al.  Mini‐SPIN: A brief screening assessment for generalized social anxiety disorder , 2001, Depression and anxiety.

[36]  Elias Aboujaoude,et al.  Cyberbullying: Review of an Old Problem Gone Viral. , 2015, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[37]  E. Storch,et al.  Peer victimization and social anxiety in adolescence: a prospective study , 2005 .