Bullying Experiences, Depression, and the Moderating Role of Resilience Among Adolescents

Abstract

IntroductionResilience refers to the ability to adapt to difficult situation or adversity. Resilience is what gives people the psychological strength to cope with stress and hardship. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between resilience and bullying victimization and mental health problems. But whether the moderating effect of resilience against depression varies among victims of different types of bullying victimization remains unknown.MethodsThe study used data from the Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Study (TAALS), which was a school based, nationwide, longitudinal study conducted among adolescents in Taiwan. Between 2015 and 2019, the survey was repeated three times to capture changes in health behaviors. Meanwhile, our study is a cross-sectional study focusing on the 2nd follow-up survey of the TAALS, where we recruited 4,771 Grade 7 (12–13 years) and Grade 10 (15–16 years) students who had experienced bullying at school.ResultsThis study confirms the protective effect of resilience on depression among adolescents who have experienced bullying. The mode resilience score was used as a reference group. Compared to the reference group, victims of verbal bullying from the lowest resilience group were at the greatest risk of depression (OR = 5.91, CI = 4.38–7.99). Compared to the reference group, victims of cyber bullying from the highest resilience group had the lowest risk of depression (OR = 0.72, CI = 0.57–0.90).ConclusionRegardless of the type of bullying victimization, resilience has been shown to offer protection against depression. Specifically, higher resilience levels offer the greatest protection against depression for victims of cyber bullying compared to other three types of bullying victimization. Early interventions to reduce negative effects of bullying victimization may start with increasing an individual's resilience during adolescence.

How Interpersonal Sensitivity Affects Depression Under the COVID-19 Lockdown Among College Students in South China: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…18 Some empirical evidence directly indicates the mediating role of resilience in the relationship among various negative factors, such as fear of COVID-19, envy, bullying experiences, and depression. [28][29][30] Resilience framework theory suggests that low psychological resilience interacting with environmental factors might influence an individual's adaptation ability and possibly induce depression. 31,32 Overall, based on the existing hypothesis of interpersonal sensitivity affecting depression, we propose that resilience partly mediates the influence of interpersonal sensitivity on depression.…”

“…Our finding from the mediating model supported the hypothesis that resilience negatively mediated the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and depression, consistent with previous studies. [28][29][30] People with high interpersonal sensitivity levels are cautious and show low self-esteem in interpersonal relationships. 37 They may encounter more difficulties in interpersonal communication and underperform in handling dilemmas.…”

Cyberbullying and mental health: past, present and future

“…They suggested that parents and academics regulate the digital behavior of adolescents and guide them to use the internet better. Lin et al ( 2022 ) indicated that people with higher resilience scores are well protected against depression resulting from cyberbullying victimization. Hence, studies clearly showed the importance of studying individual-level interventions to protect against cyberbullying and resulting mental issues.…”

When fate hands you lemons: A moderated moderation model of bullying victimization and psychological distress among Chinese adolescents during floods and the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Participants rated the items on a five-point Likert scale (0 = never; 1 = 1-2 times; 2 = about once a week; 3 = 2-3 times a week; 4 = more often) to report their bullying experience (included three main traditional bullying type in China: physical, verbal, and relational bullying) in school during the last 6 months (last semester, before the flood disasters begin). As many studies have used categorical variables to measure bullying victimization, the procedures of previous studies were followed to make the results of this study comparable with those of previous studies (Guy et al, 2017;Husky et al, 2020;Lin et al, 2020;Eyuboglu et al, 2021;Hysing et al, 2021;Lin et al, 2022). Responses were recorded as 0 (rated 0, no response) or 1 (Hong and Espelage, 2012;Hymel and Swearer, 2015;Hysing et al, 2021;Xue et al, 2022).…”