Cyberbullying perpetration and victimisation amongst adolescent psychiatric patients at Lentegeur Hospital, South Africa.

Background: Cyberbullying is a type of harassment that is perpetrated or experienced by a person or groups of persons via the use of electronic devices, and it frequently occurs amongst young people. Research has shown that cyberbullying is associated with psychiatric comorbidity, which could indicate a need for screening adolescents who present for mental health services. Aim: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of cyberbullying amongst adolescents. The secondary aim was to determine the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 psychiatric diagnoses associated with cyberbullying. Setting: Lentegeur Hospital Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in the Western Cape, South Africa. Methods: This cross-sectional study included a convenience sample of 97 participants (sampled from both inpatient and outpatient services) between the ages of 13 years and 18 years. Adolescent assent and parental consent were obtained. Demographic and clinical data were collected from patient folders, and the Revised Cyber Bullying Inventory II was used to assess cyberbullying behaviours. Results: The overall prevalence rate of some form of cyberbullying in this sample was 56.7%, of which 6.2% were cyberbullies, 20.6% were cyber-victims and 29.9% were cyberbullies and cyber-victims. Female participants were more likely to be involved in cyberbullying than males. The most prevalent primary psychiatric diagnoses in adolescents involved in cyberbullying included major depressive disorder (72.4%), schizophrenia (57.1%) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (22%). There was no significant association between cyberbullying and any psychiatric diagnoses. Conclusion: The high prevalence rate of adolescents involved in cyberbullying suggests that this behaviour is a cause for concern in the South African population. More screening and treatment programmes should be implemented to address this issue.

Cyber-victimisation and mental health in young people: a co-twin control study.

BACKGROUND: The rise of social media use in young people has sparked concern about the impact of cyber-victimisation on mental health. Although cyber-victimisation is associated with mental health problems, it is not known whether such associations reflect genetic and environmental confounding. METHODS: We used the co-twin control design to test the direct association between cyber-victimisation and multiple domains of mental health in young people. Participants were 7708 twins drawn from the Twins Early Development Study, a UK-based population cohort followed from birth to age 22. RESULTS: Monozygotic twins exposed to greater levels of cyber-victimisation had more symptoms of internalising, externalising and psychotic disorders than their less victimised co-twins at age 22, even after accounting for face-to-face peer victimisation and prior mental health. However, effect sizes from the most stringent monozygotic co-twin control analyses were decreased by two thirds from associations at the individual level [pooled ß across all mental health problems = 0.06 (95% CI 0.03-0.10) v. 0.17 (95% CI 0.15-0.19) in individual-level analyses]. CONCLUSIONS: Cyber-victimisation has a small direct association with multiple mental health problems in young people. However, a large part of the association between cyber-victimisation and mental health is due to pre-existing genetic and environmental vulnerabilities and co-occurring face-to-face victimisation. Therefore, preventative interventions should target cyber-victimisation in conjunction with pre-existing mental health vulnerabilities and other forms of victimisation.

Cybervictimisation of adolescents predicts higher rumination, which in turn, predicts worse sleep over time.

INTRODUCTION: Research has suggested that cybervictimised adolescents experience poorer health outcomes, including less sleep. The present study was designed to determine whether cybervictimisation's ability to predict sleep adequacy (i.e., number of nights in the previous week of 8 h or more of sleep) would be mediated by adaptive coping (i.e., problem solving) as well as maladaptive coping (i.e., rumination). METHODS: A three year longitudinal study with an initial sample of 2179 New Zealand adolescents (854 females and 920 males; 10-15 years old at T1) obtained self-report data on frequencies of cybervictimisation, use of problem solving and rumination coping strategies, and sleep adequacy. RESULTS: Findings from longitudinal cross-lag path analyses indicated that: 1) cybervictimisation predicted lower levels of sleep one year later; and 2) rumination, but not problem solving, mediated the temporal relationship of cybervictimisation on sleep adequacy. Cybervictimisation predicted increases in rumination, and it, in turn, predicted diminished sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Cybervictimised adolescents not only reported higher rumination and sleep inadequacy concurrently, but levels of cybervictimisation predicted these ill effects one and two years later as well. Negative consequences of being cybervictimised were discerned long after the experience of being victimised online.

Adolescent cybervictimization - Who they turn to and their perceived school climate.

The purpose of this study was to understand how adolescent cybervictims perceive their school climate and whether telling school community members, such as teachers, play a significant role in these perceptions. Another objective was to understand whether age and gender played a significant role in the relation between whom cybervictims told and their perceived school climate. The Cybervictims Scale for Adolescents and Children and the Perceived School Climate Scale were applied to 3525 Portuguese students of whom 218 were cybervictims attending 6th, 8th, and 11th grades. Results showed that even though adolescent cybervictims reported cybervictimization more to friends and parents, those who told teachers about their experience, tended to report more positive perceptions of their school climate. Gender and age did not play a significant role in the relationship between cybervictimization and perceived school climate. Implications of the findings are discussed with regards to the role of teachers and in-service training in preventing cyberbullying.

Cyberaggression and cybervictimisation in adolescents: Bibliometric analysis in web of science.

Worldwide new trends of online cyberbullying are emerging that impact on health and are a factor in adolescent suicide. The objective of this study is to know the development of scientific production and to compare the current trends that encompass the concepts of cyberaggression in young people (CAY) and cybervictimisation in young people (CVY). The methodology used in this study was descriptive with a bibliometric analysis on CAY with 481 documents and CVY with 1087 documents, in addition to a co-word analysis of both terms from the years 2017-2021. These data were extracted from the Web of Science database and network maps were made using VOSviewer software. The results show that the terms CAY and CVY were born in 2006 and have had a different evolutionary progression in the scientific literature until 2021, in addition, the area of psychology stands out with more research on other areas, developed countries are the ones that carry out more studies of CAY and CVY and that the term "suicide" is the most prominent term since 2018 from the CVY. Finally, a discussion and conclusion of the results was made, which can serve as a turning point for future lines of research.

Cyberbullying: Common Predictors to Cyber-Victimisation and Bystanding.

Cyberbullying has increased worryingly in the last decade, becoming a mental health problem in adolescence. Research usually focuses on cyber-bullies or cyber-victims, overlooking that these roles may overlap (e.g., cyber-victim-bystander). AIM: To identify possible common predictors to cyber-victimisation and bystanding. SAMPLE: The study sample consisted in 560 students, 12-15 years old, 47.5% female. METHOD: Canonical correlation, examining linear relationship between a group of X variables, and a group of Y variables. MAIN RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Two canonical varieties were built (Cor (U1,V1) = 0.442; Cor (U2,V2) = 0.270). Minors with high scores in cyber-victimisation (r = -0.888) and bystanding (r = -0.902) would have more favourable attitude towards violence, greater number of contacts on social networks/messaging and greater attention to emotions. The second variety discriminates minors with high cyber-victimisation score, but low observation and would relate to low attitudes towards violence and contacts on social networks/messaging, together with high scores in parental monitoring. Results suggest the possible overlapping of roles and how cyber-victimisation and bystanding share predictive factors.

Cybervictimisation and Well-Being during the Outbreak of COVID-19: The Mediating Role of Depression.

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to modifying relational habits and increasing Internet use to engage in antisocial behaviours such as cybervictimisation. Additionally, social distancing can reinforce the relationship with internalising behaviours such as depression. Through an adolescent sample, this study examines the relationship between cybervictimisation and well-being and the mediating role of depression. The hypothesis was tested via Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis to verify the role of depression as a mediator between cybervictimisation and well-being. The main results reveal that the effect of cybervictimisation on well-being was fully mediated by depression. The findings should stimulate debate on possible interventions to promote adolescent well-being and to avoid emotional and mental health problems related to social isolation.