The effect of bullying and cyberbullying on predicting suicide risk in adolescent females: The mediating role of depression.

This paper analyzed the role of depression as a mediator in the association between bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide risk in adolescent females. A total of 751 Colombian adolescent females (M= 13.71, SD=1.897), who were administered the Plutchik Suicide Risk Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire and Cyberbullying. Bullying victimization and aggression and cyberbullying victimization were found to contribute statistically significant effects that explaining 22 % of the variance in depression. The variables of victimization in bullying and cyberbullying and depression explained 64 % of the variance in suicidal risk, and depression mediated the association between victim and aggressor roles in bullying and cyberbullying in predicting suicidal risk, whose total direct and indirect effects are statistically significant. The findings support the role of depression as a mediating variable between bullying and cyberbullying and suicidal risk in female adolescents and highlight the importance of focusing prevention and intervention efforts on risk factors for depression and suicidal behavior in cases of bullying and cyberbullying.