Victims of Cyberbullying: Feeling Loneliness and Depression among Youth and Adult Chileans during the Pandemic.

In Chile, during the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of cyberbullying victimization increased for adolescents and younger adults. Research has shown that cyber-victims-adolescents and young adults alike-are at greater risk for mental health problems such as depression as a result of this negative type of aggression. Yet, a paucity of research has examined the individual mechanisms germane to cyber-victim depression. We focused on loneliness for the current study. We hypothesized that cyber-victimization would be positively related to depressive symptoms through increased fears of loneliness and that this effect would differ between adolescents and younger adults. Thus, we examined a sample of 2370 participants from all main regions of Chile aged from 15 to 29 years. Moderated mediation results showed a negative effect of cyberbullying on depression, which was mediated by increased fears of being alone. The effect of frequency of cyberbullying on fear of loneliness was stronger for younger adults compared to adolescents. Our results suggest different mechanisms for both age groups, which can inform prevention programs and their specific activities.

Comparing cyberbullying prevalence and process before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The psychological consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic are just now starting to be understood; however, the behavioral consequences are less understood. Thus, the current report examined whether cyberbullying processes and frequency are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We compared US adult participant data from six months before the start of the pandemic (July 2019; n = 181) to data collected in the middle of the pandemic (May, 2020; n = 173) to determine if there are any significant differences in anonymity perceptions, belief in the irrelevance of muscularity for online bullying (BIMOB), cyberbullying attitudes, and cyberbullying perpetration. Results showed that there were significant increases in BIMOB, cyberbullying attitudes, and cyberbullying perpetration during the pandemic, but no significant change for anonymity perceptions. Further, the relationships between several variables germane to cyberbullying perpetration prediction were stronger during the pandemic than before. Overall, these findings add to our understanding of the behavioral impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on US adults.

Cyberbullying perpetration in the COVID-19 era: An application of general strain theory.

The world is currently grappling with the medical, psychological, economic, and behavioral consequences of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The existing research has rightly been focused on the medical contributions - treatment, symptoms, prevalence, etc. - which are paramount. A paucity of research has tested the psychological and behavioral consequences of COVID-19. In two cross-sectional studies of US adults, we posited that personal (e.g., being diagnosed with COVID-19) and proximal (e.g., knowing people with COVID-19) experiences with COVID-19 would be related to cyberbullying perpetration due to an increase in stress. Using path modeling, results showed that (a) personal and proximal COVID-19 experiences positively correlated with cyberbullying (Studies 1 and 2) and (b) personal COVID-19 experiences were indirectly related to cyberbullying through stress, but not proximal experiences (Study 2).