The associations between bullying victimization and internalizing distress, suicidality, and substance use in Jamaican adolescents: The moderating role of parental involvement

Abstract

The present study investigated whether bullying victimization and parental involvement were associated with internalizing distress, suicidal thoughts and behavior, and substance use in Jamaican adolescents as well as whether parental involvement moderated the relation between bullying victimization and measures of psychological and behavioral distress. Analyses were based on a sample of 1,595 adolescents who were participating in the 2010 Global School-Based Student Health Survey. Data were collected using a complex survey design. Regression models were estimated using weighted data, which allowed us to draw conclusions about the population of Jamaican adolescents. Consistent with findings from international studies, bullying victimization was uniquely and positively associated with feelings of loneliness, sleep difficulties due to worry, smoking frequency, and suicidality for both male and female adolescents as well as with alcohol use frequency for female adolescents. Our pattern of findings also suggested that parental involvement is a more robust correlate of psychological and behavioral adjustment for female adolescents. Female adolescents who reported higher levels of parental involvement were less lonely and less likely to consider or plan suicide. For boys, parental involvement was only negatively related to loneliness. Finally, we found evidence that parental involvement moderated the relation between bullying victimization and cigarette use and considering suicide, although the latter finding was at the level of a nonsignificant trend. Our findings suggest parental involvement may attenuate the relation between bullying victimization and considering suicide but may strengthen the relation between bullying victimization and smoking. We discuss our findings in the context of Jamaican cultural socialization and with an appreciation for the social challenges faced by adolescents experiencing bullying victimization.

A multinational study exploring adolescent perception of school climate and mental health.

“…For example, in Jamaica, student reports of school safety were 1.36 standard deviations below the comparison mean, and school safety showed one of the strongest effects on student mental health, with students demonstrating nearly a half-point increase in ratings of mental health problems for every point decrease in perceptions of school safety. In recent years, Jamaican researchers have drawn attention to limited progress in anti-bullying intervention and research compared to other nations, making it a priority in education legislation and school intervention (Elledge et al, 2019). Educators in the Jamaica setting may look to other countries that are struggling with anti-bullying measures to implement interventions that promote student wellbeing.…”

Factors associated with children and young people’s mental health in the English-speaking Caribbean region: Systematic review and narrative synthesis

“…Both males and females reported having specific types of phobias [74]. In other studies sex/gender was not associated with depressive symptoms [75][76][77][78], suicidal plan or risk [79], stress [80], disordered eating/body image issues [81], aggressive behaviour/conduct problems [82] and other internalising and externalising problems [83][84][85][86].…”

“…YP who experienced peer pressure were more likely to feel overwhelmed and in need of emotional support [59]. Similarly, YP who were victims of bullying were also more likely to experience suicide ideation [60,63,84] and excessive worry [84]. However, YP with close friendships, good interpersonal skills and in receipt of social support were less likely to experience suicidal thoughts [60,62,63,93] and reduced psychological wellbeing [99,101].…”

The severity of bullying messages predicts increased levels of targets’ depression and general anxiety as a function of targets’ inferences of a bully’s goals

“…Bullying poses meaningful threats to mental health, such as poor body image (Hager & Leadbeater, 2016) and psychoses (Campbell & Morrison, 2007). Bullying involvement during adolescence/childhood predicts increased risk of adulthood psychotic symptomatology (Bebbington et al, 2004; Elledge et al, 2019). Although bullying has negative outcomes for everyone involved, targets of bullying seem to suffer more than bullies, bystanders, or victim-bullies (Betts et al, 2017).…”