Cyber Victimization and Behavioral Problems Among Chinese Adolescents: Examining the Underlying Psychological Mechanisms and Gender Differences

Background and Purpose:

Previous studies have revealed that cyber victimization is a significant risk factor for adolescent behavioral problems. However, little is known about the underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms. There is a lack of research addressing this question among Chinese adolescents. This study investigated whether anxiety and depression mediated the relationship between cyber victimization and adolescents’ behavioral problems and whether this potential direct or indirect effect is moderated by gender.

Methods:

Sample. Data were collected through a multi-stage cluster random sampling in Hebei Province, China. A total sample of 728 adolescents was recruited, with an average age of 16.33, 47.4% male.

Measures. Cyber victimization: Cyber victimization was measured using four items adapted from previous research. Participants were asked how often they were threatened, harassed, or blackmailed in Sina Weibo, WeChat, Tencent QQ, and email (4 items; Cronbach’s α=0.888). Behavioral problem: The Externalizing Problems Scale was used to assess adolescents' behavioral problems (3 items; Cronbach’s α=0.710). Psychological distress: The Depression and Anxiety Subscales of the Brief Symptom Inventory were utilized to measure adolescent depression (6 items; Cronbach’s α=0.814) and anxiety (6 items; Cronbach’s α=0.802), respectively.Covariates: Participants’ gender, age, grade, and household registration were controlled in the statistical analysis.

Analysis.Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were implemented in SPSS 24.0. Mediation effects of anxiety and depression between cyber victimization and externalizing problem were tested by the bias-corrected percentile bootstrap method. After that, we examined whether the direct and mediating mechanisms were moderated by gender. The moderated mediation model was tested in Model 59 of Hayes's PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013).

Results:

The bias-corrected percentile bootstrap test indicated a significant indirect effect of depression (b = 0.043, SE = 0.027, 95% CI = [0.014, 0.114]) between cyber victimization and adolescent behavioral problem. However, the indirect effect was not statistically significant via anxiety (b = 0.017, SE = 0.020, 95% CI = [-0.001, 0.074]). Moreover, gender moderated the effect of cyber victimization on adolescent depression and anxiety. In particular, the association between cyber victimization and depression was stronger for girls (b = 0.444, p < 0.001) than for boys (b = 0.182, p < 0.001). Similarly, the relationship between cyber victimization and anxiety was more robust for girls (b = 0.417, p < 0.001) than for boys (b = 0.104, p < 0.05). Additionally, gender moderated the association between anxiety and behavioral problems. The effect of anxiety on behavioral problems was significant for girls (b = 0.259, p < 0.001) but not for boys (b = 0.016, p > 0.05).

Conclusions and Implications:

To our knowledge, this study is the first attempt to examine the mediating mechanisms of anxiety and depression on the association between cyber victimization and behavioral problems and the moderating mechanism of gender within an integrated model simultaneously. Most of the predictions inspired by the general strain theory are supported in this study. This finding underscored the importance and necessity of developing social work interventions and designing social policies targeting reducing cyber victimization to improve adolescents' psychological and behavioral outcomes.