The relationship between cyberbullying and depression in adolescents

Abstract

The current study examined the relationship between cyberbullying and depression in
high school students, and the relationship between help seeking, parental involvement,
and depression. One hundred twenty seven high school students, 43% male and 57%
female, between I 4 to 18 years of age, completed a self-report survey. Results indicated
that the more experiences students had with cyberbullying, the more likely they were to
report symptoms of depression. At an alpha level of .01, results showed that there was a
significant positive relationship between bullying and depression, r(125) = .42,p <.001
(one-tailed) and between being a victim and depression, r(125) = .55,p <.001 (onetailed),
supporting the hypothesis that individuals with any involvement with
cyberbullying would more likely report depressive symptoms than those with no
cyberbullying involvement. No relationship between parental involvement, help seeking
and depression was found. Participants' opinions about what needs to be done about
cyberbullying, their experiences with reporting cyberbullying, and the implication of the
study are discussed.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	Assege HaileMariam (Supervisor)