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Longitudinal and Incremental Relation of Cybervictimization to Negative Self-Cognitions and Depressive Symptoms in Young Adolescents

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Abstract

Adolescents are among the most frequent users of social media websites, raising concern about the dangers of cyber bullying or cybervictimization (CV). A 12-month longitudinal study examined the unique, prospective relation of CV to the development of negative self-cognitions and depressive symptoms in a community sample of 827 children and young adolescents (ages 8–13; 55.1 % female) from the southeastern United States. Over and above conventional types of peer victimization, CV significantly predicted changes in self-referential negative cognitions, victimization-related cognitive reactions, and depressive symptoms, even after controlling for baseline levels of the dependent variables. Results also showed that CV was significantly less stable than other forms of victimization and tended to increase slightly with time. The study highlights the unique effects of CV and has implications for research and practice.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a gift from Patricia and Rodes Hart and by support from the Warren Family Foundation to David A. Cole. We thank Sara Alavi, Sydney Wait-Kudla, and Darcy Kayla for their support at various stages of this project.

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  1. Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37203-5721, USA

    David A. Cole, Rachel L. Zelkowitz, Elizabeth Nick, Nina C. Martin, Kathryn M. Roeder, Keneisha Sinclair-McBride & Tawny Spinelli

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  1. David A. Cole
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Cole, D.A., Zelkowitz, R.L., Nick, E. et al. Longitudinal and Incremental Relation of Cybervictimization to Negative Self-Cognitions and Depressive Symptoms in Young Adolescents. J Abnorm Child Psychol 44, 1321–1332 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0123-7

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