Cybervictimisation of adolescents predicts higher rumination, which in turn, predicts worse sleep over time

Abstract

Introduction: Research has suggested that cybervictimised adolescents experience poorer health outcomes, including less sleep. The present study was designed to determine whether cybervictimisation's ability to predict sleep adequacy (i.e., number of nights in the previous week of 8 h or more of sleep) would be mediated by adaptive coping (i.e., problem solving) as well as maladaptive coping (i.e., rumination).

Methods: A three year longitudinal study with an initial sample of 2179 New Zealand adolescents (854 females and 920 males; 10-15 years old at T1) obtained self-report data on frequencies of cybervictimisation, use of problem solving and rumination coping strategies, and sleep adequacy.

Results: Findings from longitudinal cross-lag path analyses indicated that: 1) cybervictimisation predicted lower levels of sleep one year later; and 2) rumination, but not problem solving, mediated the temporal relationship of cybervictimisation on sleep adequacy. Cybervictimisation predicted increases in rumination, and it, in turn, predicted diminished sleep.

Conclusions: Cybervictimised adolescents not only reported higher rumination and sleep inadequacy concurrently, but levels of cybervictimisation predicted these ill effects one and two years later as well. Negative consequences of being cybervictimised were discerned long after the experience of being victimised online.

Keywords: Coping; Cybervictimisation; Problem solving; Rumination; Sleep adequacy.