Skip to main content
Oxford University Press - PMC COVID-19 Collection logoLink to Oxford University Press - PMC COVID-19 Collection
. 2021 Oct 20;31(Suppl 3):ckab165.176. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckab165.176

Association of cyberbullying with depression in high school adolescents

J Villegas Dominguez 1,✉,, Z Garcia Sanchez 1, HA Olazo Chiquito 1, J Murillo Monroy 1, FG Marquez Celdonio 1
PMCID: PMC8574584

Abstract

Background

During the SARS-COV 2 pandemic, schools in Mexico adapted to the online modality as a strategy to contain the epidemic, being this new modality for high school students, which could facilitate, together with their social context, a damage to their mental health.

Objectives

To determine the association of cyberbullying with depression in high school adolescents. A comparative, observational, cross-sectional and prospective study was carried out in Veracruz, Mexico, between January and April 2021, including high school students with online classes, and those with a diagnosis of depression, anxiety or if they were consuming drugs that It could alter your mood. A non-probabilistic sampling was carried out and the DASS-21 test (Cronbach 0.87) was applied to determine stress, anxiety and depression and the ECIPQ test to determine cyberbullying (cronbach 0.87)

Results

311 students were included, of which 129 (41.5%) were men, with brown skin in 63.7%, white (32.2%) and yellow in 4.2%, with bisexual sexual preference in 8.4%, with depression in 43.4% %, anxiety 42.8%, stress 26.7%, being cyber victims 43.1% and cyberbullying 20.6%. Being a cybervictim presents OR for depression of 4.1 (95% CI 2.5-6.6), OR for anxiety of 3.8 (95% CI 2.4-6.2), stress OR of 4.2 (95% CI 2.5-7.3). The factors that facilitate cyberbullying were having yellow skin color with OR 4.6 (95% CI 1.2-17.3) and being bisexual with OR 5.0 (95% CI 1.9-12.8), all with a value of p < 0.05.

Conclusions

being a cybervictim facilitates the presence of depression, anxiety and stress in adolescents. Having yellow skin color and being bisexual increases the risk of cyberbullying

Key messages

  • Being a cybervictim facilitates the presence of depression, anxiety and stress in adolescents.

  • Having yellow skin color and being bisexual increases the risk of cyberbullying.


Articles from The European Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES