Cyberbullying and Psychological Well-being in Young Adolescence: The Potential Protective Mediation Effects of Social Support from Family, Friends, and Teachers

Abstract

In the current study, we tested the relations between cyberbullying roles and several psychological well-being outcomes, as well as the potential mediation effect of perceived social support from family, friends, and teachers in school. This was investigated in a cross-sectional sample of 1707 young adolescents (47.5% girls, aged 10-13 years, self-reporting via a web questionnaire) attending community and private schools in a mid-sized municipality in Sweden. We concluded from our results that the Cyberbully-victim group has the highest levels of depressive symptoms, and the lowest of subjective well-being and family support. We also observed higher levels of anxiety symptoms in both the Cyber-victims and the Cyberbully-victims. Moreover, we conclude that some types of social support seem protective in the way that it mediates the relationship between cyberbullying and psychological well-being. More specifically, perceived social support from family and from teachers reduce the probability of depressive and anxiety symptoms, and higher levels of social support from the family increase the probability of higher levels of subjective well-being among youths being a victim of cyberbullying (i.e., cyber-victim) and being both a perpetrator and a victim of cyber bullying (i.e., cyberbully-victim). Potential implications for prevention strategies are discussed.

Keywords: adolescents; anxiety; cyber-victim; cyberbully-victim; cyberbullying; depression; mental health; psychological well-being; social support; subjective well-being.

Figure 1

Mediation model of cyberbullying roles on psychological well-being through perceived social support. Root-Mean-Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.03; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.92; Standardize Root Square Residual (SRMR) = 0.04. The model shows the standardized estimates for direct effects, covariance between mediators and dependent variables, and controlled effects for age and gender (in grey). Only statistically significant relationships are shown in the figure. * p < 0.05. ** p < 0.01. *** p < 0.001.