Cyber Bullying and Traditional Bullying: Differential Association with Depression

• NCJ Number: 232000
• Author(s): Jing Wang, Ph.D.; Tonja R. Nansel, Ph.D.; Ronald J. Iannotti, Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2010
• Length: 11 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Sale Source: National Institutes of Health
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study compared levels of depression between victims of cyber bullying and victims of traditional forms of bullying.

Abstract

Results of the study found that adolescents involved in the four forms of bullying, physical, verbal, relational, and cyber bullying, reported higher levels of depression than adolescents in the non-involved group. More specifically, victims of cyber bullying reported higher depression levels than bullies or bully-victims of the other three forms of bullying. Data for this study came from the 2005 Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Survey. The nationally-representative sample consisted of students (n=7,313) from grades 6 through 10 who completed the items on bullying and depression in the survey. Regression analysis was used to test the association between bullying and depression and whether it differed by gender. Results indicate an association between bullying and higher levels of depression, with victims of cyber bullying showing an association to depression that is distinct from that found with the other forms of bullying. Further research is recommended to examine this distinction. 10 references, 1 table, and 1 figure