Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago 7610658, Chile.
Escuela de Psicología, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 7941169, Chile.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 12;19(10):5886. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19105886.
In Chile, during the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of cyberbullying victimization increased for adolescents and younger adults. Research has shown that cyber-victims-adolescents and young adults alike-are at greater risk for mental health problems such as depression as a result of this negative type of aggression. Yet, a paucity of research has examined the individual mechanisms germane to cyber-victim depression. We focused on loneliness for the current study. We hypothesized that cyber-victimization would be positively related to depressive symptoms through increased fears of loneliness and that this effect would differ between adolescents and younger adults. Thus, we examined a sample of 2370 participants from all main regions of Chile aged from 15 to 29 years. Moderated mediation results showed a negative effect of cyberbullying on depression, which was mediated by increased fears of being alone. The effect of frequency of cyberbullying on fear of loneliness was stronger for younger adults compared to adolescents. Our results suggest different mechanisms for both age groups, which can inform prevention programs and their specific activities.
在智利，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，青少年和年轻成年人遭受网络欺凌的报告有所增加。研究表明，网络受害者——青少年和年轻成年人都面临更大的心理健康问题风险，如抑郁，这是由于这种负面的攻击行为。然而，很少有研究探讨与网络受害者抑郁相关的个体机制。我们在当前的研究中关注孤独感。我们假设，网络欺凌会通过增加对孤独的恐惧与抑郁症状呈正相关，并且这种影响在青少年和年轻成年人之间存在差异。因此，我们调查了来自智利所有主要地区的 2370 名年龄在 15 至 29 岁之间的参与者。调节中介结果表明，网络欺凌对抑郁有负面影响，这种负面影响是通过增加孤独感来介导的。与青少年相比，网络欺凌的频率对孤独恐惧的影响在年轻成年人中更强。我们的研究结果表明，这两个年龄组有不同的机制，可以为预防计划及其具体活动提供信息。
