Previously submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research (no longer under consideration since May 31, 2022)
Date Submitted: Aug 7, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 14, 2021 - Sep 8, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
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The Effect of Cyberbullying on Young People’s Wellbeing and Psychological Distress: The Moderating Role of the Social Environment.
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cyberbullying is a relatively recent phenomenon, whose growth parallels that of modern communication technology. Research in this area has found that young people are highly vulnerable to experiencing cyberbullying and methods of reducing the negative impacts need to be investigated.
Objective:
In this study, the stress-buffering model has been applied, and it is predicted that social support and loneliness, two proximal elements of a young person’s social environment, will moderate the effects of cyberbullying on young people’s wellbeing and psychological distress.
Methods:
A computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) was administered to a nationally representative community sample of 4065 Australian young people aged 12 to 25 years. Measures included in this survey captured young people’s attitudes and experiences pertaining to their wellbeing, psychological distress, degree of social support, loneliness and exposure to cyberbullying.
Results:
Findings revealed that in this sample, cyberbullying prevalence is high, with 51% experiencing lifetime prevalence and 11% in the past month. Results from a series of ANOVAs indicated significant, but negligible, age and gender differences for cyberbullying, wellbeing, and psychological distress. Finally, moderation analyses indicated that the social environment did not moderate the relationship between cyberbullying and wellbeing and distress.
Conclusions:
The significant but negligible nature of these findings highlights the necessity for further research in this field, focusing specifically on examining other aspects of the social environment which may buffer this relationship.
Citation
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