Prevalence of mental stress and its association with witnessing cyberbullying and coping strategies among undergraduates in Hunan, China in 2021.

BACKGROUND

In the wave of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, there is a need to investigate the mental health status of Chinese university students.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effects of witnessing cyberbullying on psychological distress and the mediating role of coping on these effects in Chinese university students, which is yet to be examined.

METHODS

306 Chinese university students were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Linear regression was conducted to analyze the relationship between depression, anxiety and being a bystander to cyberbullying, whereas the bootstrapping approach tested the mediation effects of coping strategies.

RESULTS

Results indicated that 27.12% of subjects (95% CI: 22.22%, 32.48%) suffered from anxiety and 44.12% (95% CI: 38.47%, 49.88%) were depressed. Meanwhile, 89.87% of subjects were involved in witnessing cyberbullying. Being a bystander to cyberbullying was weakly but significantly associated with anxiety (β= 0.195, 95% CI: 0.068, 0.292) and depression (β= 0.223, 95% CI: 0.113,0.333). Negative coping partially mediated between witnessing cyberbullying and anxiety, with mediation effect values of 0.04 (P< 0.05). While being a bystander to cyberbullying was only directly associated with depression.

CONCLUSION

Based on our findings, college students in Hunan, China, are experiencing anxiety, depression and cyberbullying after COVID-19. Being a bystander to cyberbullying is associated with coping strategies, anxiety, and depression. Cyberbullying has a direct impact on anxiety, but it also influences anxiety through mediating effects on coping.