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. 2020 Nov 5:11:572521.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.572521. eCollection 2020.

Cyberbullying Victimization and Non-suicidal Self-Injurious Behavior Among Chinese Adolescents: School Engagement as a Mediator and Sensation Seeking as a Moderator

Chengfu Yu  1 , Qi Xie  1 , Shanyan Lin  2 , Yue Liang  1 , Guodong Wang  1   3 , Yangang Nie  1 , Jianping Wang  4 , Claudio Longobardi  2
Affiliations

Cyberbullying Victimization and Non-suicidal Self-Injurious Behavior Among Chinese Adolescents: School Engagement as a Mediator and Sensation Seeking as a Moderator

Chengfu Yu et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Although a large body of research has indicated that cyberbullying victimization is a crucial risk factor for adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. To address this research gap, this study, based on the social control theory and the organism-environment interaction model, was designed to test whether school engagement mediated the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and adolescent NSSI and whether this mediating effect was moderated by sensation seeking. A sample of 1,102 adolescents (M age = 13.17; SD = 0.69) anonymously completed the questionnaires. The results showed that the positive association between cyberbullying victimization and adolescent NSSI was mediated by school engagement. Moreover, this indirect link was significant for adolescents with high-level sensation seeking but non-significant for adolescents with low-level sensation seeking. These findings highlight school engagement as a potential mechanism linking cyberbullying victimization to adolescent NSSI, and high sensation seeking was an important risk factor to amplify this indirect effect. Intervention programs aimed at reducing NSSI among adolescents may benefit from the current research.

Keywords: adolescent; cyberbullying; non-suicidal self-injury; school engagement; sensation seeking.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The proposed mediated moderation model. NSSI, non-suicidal self-injurious behavior.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Model of the mediating role of school engagement between cyberbullying victimization and NSSI. NSSI, non-suicidal self-injurious behavior. The values outside the brackets are unstandardized coefficients, those in parentheses are standard errors, and those in brackets are standardized coefficients. Paths between gender, age, parent-adolescent interaction, and each of the variables in the model are not displayed. Of those paths, the following were significant: age (b = 0.02, SE = 0.02, β = 0.06, t = 2.11, p < 0.05, 95% CI [0.003, 0.09]), and parent-adolescent interaction (b = 0.20, SE = 0.01, β = 0.40, t = 13.73, p < 0.01, 95% CI [0.17, 0.23]) to school engagement; Parent-adolescent interaction to NSSI (b = 0.03, SE = 0.01, β = −0.09, t = −2.82, p < 0.01, 95% CI [−0.05, −0.01]). ∗∗p < 0.01.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Model of the moderating role of sensation seeking on the indirect relationship between cyberbullying victimization and NSSI. SS, sensation seeking; NSSI, non-suicidal self-injurious behavior. The values outside the brackets are unstandardized coefficients, those in parentheses are standard errors, and those in brackets are standardized coefficients. Paths between gender, age, parent-adolescent interaction, and each of the variables in the model are not displayed. Of those paths, the following were significant: parent-adolescent interaction to school engagement (b = 0.19, SE = 0.02, β = 0.40, t = 13.61, p < 0.01, 95% CI [0.17, 0.22]) and NSSI (b = −0.03, SE = 0.01, β = −0.10, t = −3.01, p < 0.01, 95% CI [−0.05, −0.01]). ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
NSSI among adolescents as a function of school engagement and sensation seeking. NSSI, non-suicidal self-injurious behavior.
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