Peer-reviewed article
Mood and suicidality amongst cyberbullied adolescents- a cross-sectional study from youth risk behavior survey
Hsieh Y, Jain P, Veluri N, Bhela J, Sheikh B et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the relationship between cyberbullying and mental health problems in adolescents using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (1991-2017). Among 10,463 adolescents, 14.8% experienced cyberbullying in the past year, with higher rates among females and youth aged 15-17 years. Cyberbullied adolescents had much higher rates of sadness, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts compared to non-cyberbullied peers. The study found cyberbullying was associated with a 155% increased risk of sadness and hopelessness, and elevated risks of suicidal ideation and planning.
Key points
- 14.8% of adolescents in the survey experienced cyberbullying in the past year
- Cyberbullying was more common in females (68%) and youth aged 15-17 years (25-26%)
- Cyberbullied youth had 59.6% prevalence of sadness/hopelessness compared to 25.8% in non-cyberbullied peers
- Cyberbullied adolescents had 2.55 times higher odds of sadness/hopelessness and 1.52 times higher odds of considering suicide
- Cyberbullying was associated with higher rates of suicide planning (33.2% vs 10.8%) and suicide attempts
Limitations
This is a cross-sectional study, so it cannot establish causation—only association between cyberbullying and mental health outcomes. The data relies on self-reported responses and does not account for confounding factors such as pre-existing mental health conditions or other forms of bullying.
Abstract
Introduction There is a limited literature available showing mental health burden among adolescents following cyberbullying. Objectives Aim is to evaluate the association of low mood and suicidality amongst cyberbullied adolescents. Methods A study on CDC National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) (1991-2017). Responses from adolescence related to cyberbullying and suicidality were evaluated. Chi-square and mix-effect multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to find out the association of cyberbullying with sadness/hopelessness, suicide consideration, plan, and attempts. Results A total of 10,463 adolescents, 14.8% of adolescents faced cyberbullying a past year. There was a higher prevalence of cyberbullying in youths aged 15-17 years (25 vs 26 vs 23%), which included more females to males (68 vs 32%).(p<0.0001) Caucasians (53%) had the highest number of responses to being cyberbullied compared to Hispanics (24%), African Americans (11%).(p<0.0001) There was an increased prevalence of cyberbullied youths with feelings of sadness/hopelessness (59.6 vs 25.8%), higher numbers considering suicide (40.4 vs 13.2%), suicide plan (33.2 vs 10.8%), and multiple suicidal attempts in comparison to non-cyberbullied.(p<0.0001) On regression analysis, cyberbullied adolescence had a 155% higher chance of feeling sad and hopeless [aOR=2.55; 95%CI=2.39-2.72], considered suicide [1.52 (1.39-1.66)], and suicide plan [1.24 (1.13-1.36)]. Conclusions In our study, cyberbullying was associated with negative mental health outcomes. Further research is warranted to examine the impact and outcomes of cyberbullying amongst adolescents and guiding the policies to mitigate the consequences. Disclosure No significant relationships.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- None—this is an observational study examining associations, not testing an intervention
- Population
- 10,463 U.S. adolescents from the National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance data (1991-2017)
Key finding
Cyberbullied youth had 59.6% prevalence of sadness/hopelessness vs 25.8% in non-cyberbullied youth (p<0.0001)