IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i23p8938-d454478.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cyberbullying Involvement and Psychological Distress among Chinese Adolescents: The Moderating Effects of Family Cohesion and School Cohesion

Author

Listed:
  • Xi Zhang

    (Natural Language Processing Group, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China)

  • Ziqiang Han

    (School of Political Science and Public Administration, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China)

  • Zhanlong Ba

    (School of Sociology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

Abstract

Cyberbullying and its consequences is a little-investigated public health issue. We investigated the correlations between cyberbullying involvement, either being a victim or being a preparator, and psychological distress among a group of Chinese adolescents. A representative sample of 4978 students from Jiangsu province covering all types of pre-college schools was surveyed using a stratified sampling method. Both being a victim and being a perpetrator correlated with higher degrees of psychological distress, and the former’s effect is stronger. Family cohesion and school cohesion are protective factors of psychological distress, but only family cohesion plays a moderating effect between cyberbullying involvement and distress. Moreover, the positive correlations between cyberbullying involvement and psychological distress become non-significant when the interactions are included in regression models. Last but not least, female students and students in a higher grade or students with worse academic performance have higher degrees of distress. Our study reveals that, instead of school cohesion, family cohesion is more important to mitigate the psychological impact of cyberbullying involvement and eventually heal the trauma.

Suggested Citation

  • Xi Zhang & Ziqiang Han & Zhanlong Ba, 2020. "Cyberbullying Involvement and Psychological Distress among Chinese Adolescents: The Moderating Effects of Family Cohesion and School Cohesion," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:8938-:d:454478
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8938/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/8938/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ana Romero-Abrio & Belén Martínez-Ferrer & Daniel Musitu-Ferrer & Celeste León-Moreno & María Elena Villarreal-González & Juan Evaristo Callejas-Jerónimo, 2019. "Family Communication Problems, Psychosocial Adjustment and Cyberbullying," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-13, July.
    2. Chai, Lei & Xue, Jia & Han, Ziqiang, 2020. "School bullying victimization and self-rated health and life satisfaction: The gendered buffering effect of educational expectations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    3. Ziqiang Han & Guirong Zhang & Haibo Zhang, 2017. "School Bullying in Urban China: Prevalence and Correlation with School Climate," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-13, September.
    4. Li, Jiameng & Sidibe, Aissata Mahamadou & Shen, Xiaoyun & Hesketh, Therese, 2019. "Incidence, risk factors and psychosomatic symptoms for traditional bullying and cyberbullying in Chinese adolescents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    5. Jiang, Shan, 2020. "Psychological well-being and distress in adolescents: An investigation into associations with poverty, peer victimization, and self-esteem," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    6. Chai, Lei & Xue, Jia & Han, Ziqiang, 2020. "School bullying victimization and self-rated health and life satisfaction: The mediating effect of relationships with parents, teachers, and peers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    7. Gengfeng Niu & Jing He & Shanyan Lin & Xiaojun Sun & Claudio Longobardi, 2020. "Cyberbullying Victimization and Adolescent Depression: The Mediating Role of Psychological Security and the Moderating Role of Growth Mindset," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-13, June.
    8. Ba, Zhanlong & Han, Ziqiang & Gong, Zepeng & Li, Fan & Zhang, Haibo & Zhang, Guirong, 2019. "Ethnic differences in experiences of school bullying in China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paek, Seung Yeop & Choi, Yeon-Jun & Lee, Julak, 2023. "Exposure to harmful content and cyberbullying perpetration among South Korean adolescents during COVID-19: The moderating role of parental support," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. David Aparisi & Beatriz Delgado & Rosa M. Bo & María Carmen Martínez-Monteagudo, 2021. "Relationship between Cyberbullying, Motivation and Learning Strategies, Academic Performance, and the Ability to Adapt to University," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-12, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chai, Lei & Xue, Jia & Han, Ziqiang, 2020. "School bullying victimization and self-rated health and life satisfaction: The mediating effect of relationships with parents, teachers, and peers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    2. Liu, Jie & Han, Ziqiang & Ma, Xiao & Xin, Ruiping, 2023. "Moral disengagement and cyberbullying perpetration among adolescents: The moderating role of empathy," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    3. Hu, Ran & Xue, Jia & Han, Ziqiang, 2021. "School bullying victimization and perpetration among Chinese adolescents: A latent class approach," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Sun, Ji & Ban, Yongfei & Liu, Jiang, 2024. "Relationship between bullying victimization and suicide ideation among Chinese adolescents: A moderated chain mediation model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    5. Yin, Hui & Han, Ziqiang & Li, Yuhuan, 2024. "Traditional bullying, cyberbullying, and quality of life among adolescents in 35 countries: Do cultural values matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    6. Chai, Lei & Xue, Jia & Han, Ziqiang, 2020. "Excessive weight and academic performance among Chinese children and adolescents: Assessing the mediating effects of bullying victimization and self-rated health and life satisfaction," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    7. Ihsana Sabriani Borualogo & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Bullying Victimisation and Children’s Subjective Well-being: A Comparative Study in Seven Asian Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, February.
    8. Yanling Geng & Longtao He, 2022. "Gender Differences in Children’s Psychological Well-Being in Mainland China: Risk and Protective Factors," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2743-2763, October.
    9. Woochun Jun, 2020. "A Study on the Cause Analysis of Cyberbullying in Korean Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-17, June.
    10. Ángel Denche-Zamorano & Sabina Barrios-Fernandez & Carmen Galán-Arroyo & Sebastián Sánchez-González & Felipe Montalva-Valenzuela & Antonio Castillo-Paredes & Jorge Rojo-Ramos & Pedro R. Olivares, 2022. "Science Mapping: A Bibliometric Analysis on Cyberbullying and the Psychological Dimensions of the Self," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Cătălina Radu & Alecxandrina Deaconu & Iudith-Anci Kis & Adela Jansen & Sorina Ioana Mișu, 2023. "New Ways to Perform: Employees’ Perspective on Remote Work and Psychological Security in the Post-Pandemic Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, March.
    12. Md Irteja Islam & Verity Chadwick & Tuguy Esgin & Alexandra Martiniuk, 2022. "Bullied Because of Their Teeth: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study on the Impact of Oral Health on Bullying Victimization among Australian Indigenous Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-16, April.
    13. Gengfeng Niu & Siyu Jin & Fang Xu & Shanyan Lin & Zongkui Zhou & Claudio Longobardi, 2022. "Relational Victimization and Video Game Addiction among Female College Students during COVID-19 Pandemic: The Roles of Social Anxiety and Parasocial Relationship," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Wang, Zhiyou & Wang, Lin & Jiang, Shan & Zhang, Shichao, 2024. "Examining the pathways between overt and relational victimization, loneliness, phobic anxiety, and suicidal ideation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    15. Xiaoqin Wang & Yue Zhang & Zhaozhao Hui & Wanyue Bai & Paul D. Terry & Mei Ma & Yang Li & Li Cheng & Wei Gu & Mingxu Wang, 2018. "The Mediating Effect of Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy on the Association between Self-Esteem and School Bullying in Middle School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-9, May.
    16. Chai, Lei & Xue, Jia & Han, Ziqiang, 2020. "School bullying victimization and self-rated health and life satisfaction: The gendered buffering effect of educational expectations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    17. Fan, Hang & Xue, Lulu & Xiu, Jianwu & Chen, Lipeng & Liu, Shen, 2023. "Harsh parental discipline and school bullying among Chinese adolescents: The role of moral disengagement and deviant peer affiliation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    18. Wei, Xiyu & Liu, Dongyu & Cheung, H.N. & Williams, J.M., 2024. "Exploring the mediation role of self-compassion in the association between bullying perpetration and depression: A cross culture comparison study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    19. Yunjun Hu & Lingling Shu & Huilin Zhang & Chen Wang & Chengfu Yu & Guanyu Cui, 2022. "Perceived Epidemic Risk and Depression Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Security and the Moderation Role of Perceived Discrimination," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-14, June.
    20. Ning Ding & Xinwen Zhang, 2022. "Bullying Victimization and Quality of Life among Chinese Adolescents: An Integrative Analysis of Internet Addiction and Social Withdrawal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-13, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:8938-:d:454478. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.