Relationship between cyberbullying victimization and depression in middle school students: the mediating role of coping strategies and the moderating role of face consciousness.

Background: The more rapid adoption of the Internet in education settings has raised concerns about its impact on adolescents who may suffer from cyberbullying victimization. As a negative life experience, cyberbullying victimization can adversely affect adolescents' mental health. Particularly, it can lead to more adolescents developing depression. Based on this, we developed and tested a moderated mediation model to examine whether approach and avoidance coping strategies mediate the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and depression, and whether this mediating process was moderated by face consciousness.

Method: This study used a cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 1,586 middle school students from northwestern China, including 782 females (mean age 13.76 ± 1.03 years; age range 12-16). Participants completed an anonymous paper-and-pencil survey that assessed their experiences with cyberbullying victimization, approach and avoidance coping strategies, face consciousness, and depressive symptoms.

Result: The findings revealed that cyberbullying victimization (Beta = 0.37, SE = 0.02, p < 0.001) was significantly positively correlated with depression in adolescents. The avoidance coping strategies (Effect = 0.16, p < 0.001), rather than approach coping strategies, mediate the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and depression. Additionally, face consciousness (Beta = 0.05, t = 2.28, p = 0.009) moderated the mediation: as face consciousness increased, the impact of avoidance coping strategies on depression became stronger.

Conclusion: These findings provide valuable insights into how and when cyberbullying affects adolescent depression, offering potential guidance for prevention and intervention strategies aimed at reducing the impact of cyberbullying on depressive symptoms in this vulnerable population.