Cyberbullying Victimization and Depression among College Students: The Moderating Roles of Psychological Capital and Peer Support

Zhou Li; Wang Hongxia; Geng Jingyu; Lei Li

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240427

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (4) : 981-989. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240427

Cyberbullying Victimization and Depression among College Students: The Moderating Roles of Psychological Capital and Peer Support

Zhou Li¹, Wang Hongxia², Geng Jingyu², Lei Li³

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Abstract

This study sought to explore the moderating roles of psychological capital and peer support in the association between cyberbullying victimization and depression. The widespread usage of mobile technology and social media has added the concerns of the adverse effects of cyberbullying on victims' physical and mental health, especially among college students. In recent years, cyberbullying victimization has become a serious social and public issue worldwide. Previous studies have reported that cyberbullying victimization is closely related to mental health problems, particularly depression. Although cyberbullying victimization is significantly and positively related to college students' depression, not all college students experience higher levels of depression when faced with cyberbullying. That is, there may be important moderating factors that buffer the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and depression. According to the extension of the general strain theory, the current study aims to explore whether resource factors, including psychological capital and peer support, can simultaneously weaken the association between cyberbullying victimization and depression among college students.
A total of 837 college students (281 males and 556 females) with an average age of 19.66 years (SD=1.75 years ) were recruited to complete an online questionnaire regarding cyberbullying victimization, depression, psychological capital, and peer support. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations were computed to analyze the relationships among cyberbullying victimization, psychological capital, peer support, and depression. Besides, the moderating effects of psychological capital and peer support were tested via model 3 of the PROCESS macro.
The results showed that college students who experienced more cyberbullying victimization were more likely to report higher levels of depression (β = .34, p < .001). College students who experienced cyberbullying victimization but had lower levels of psychological capital were more likely to be depressed (β = .37, p < .001) than those with higher levels of psychological capital (β = .22, p < .001). Furthermore, higher levels of cyberbullying victimization significantly predicted increases in college students' depression when their psychological capital and peer support were both low (β = .34, p < .001), or one was low (β = .24, p < .001; β = .27, p < .01). In contrast, this effect became non-significant when college students' psychological capital and peer support were both high (β = -.1, p >.05).
The possible explanation is that low psychological capital is a strong predictor of depression. Additionally, college students with low level of psychological capital tend to interpret cyberbullying victimization more negatively and make negative attributions for such encounter. Therefore, when exposed to cyberbullying victimization, college students with low levels of psychological capital are more likely to be depressed, regardless of whether they have high or low levels of peer support. For college students with high psychological capital and high peer support, they have both sufficient internal resources and external support when exposed to cyberbullying victimization, thus they are less likely to be depressed. Therefore, when the psychological capital and peer support of college students are both high, the adverse effect of cyberbullying victimization on depression is no longer significant. These findings further suggest that, while a high level of psychological capital or social capital alone is not enough to help individuals to cope with adverse experiences, and high levels of both psychological capital and peer support can counteract the negative consequences of cyberbullying victimization. Thus, interventions that increase psychological capital and peer support simultaneously should be designed to alleviate depression associated with cyberbullying victimization among college students.

Key words

cyberbullying victimization / psychological capital / peer support / depression

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Zhou Li, Wang Hongxia, Geng Jingyu, Lei Li. Cyberbullying Victimization and Depression among College Students: The Moderating Roles of Psychological Capital and Peer Support[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2024, 47(4): 981-989 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240427

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