The Role Of Loneliness And Resilience In Psychosocial Health For Victims Of Cyberbullying In A College Population

Research has shown that bullying, especially chronic levels of bullying, during childhood may lead to negative outcomes, such as anxiety and depression in adulthood. Cyberbullying, or bullying through electronic media, is a recent phenomenon that has sparked interest in examining bullying with young adults, as early research suggests cyberbullying is becoming increasingly problematic within the young adult population and has the potential for negative psychosocial outcomes. Data indicate a relationship between loneliness and negative psychosocial outcomes, suggesting loneliness may be a key factor in the relationship between stress resulting from cyberbullying victimization and psychological distress. Moreover, although cyberbullying may lead to negative psychosocial outcomes, some individuals appear to be more resilient than others to this stress; demonstrating better than expected outcomes in the face of cyberbullying victimization. Resilience has been suggested to be a “buffer” against negative psychosocial outcomes, and therefore may be important to the relationship among cyberbullying, loneliness, and psychosocial health. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships among cyberbullying, loneliness, resilience, and psychosocial health in college students. Participants were 543 undergraduate students, ranging in age from 18-30 plus years old, from a public university in the southeastern United States. Participants completed the study online through Qualtrics, a web based survey system. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Cyberbullying Scale (CBS), UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale – 21 (DASS-21). It was hypothesized that the experience of cyberbullying (X) would predict negative psychosocial outcomes (Y) as mediated through loneliness (M). Additionally, given the rationale that resilience potentially provides protective factor against loneliness, it was hypothesized that resilience (W) would moderate the relationship between loneliness (M) and negative psychosocial outcomes (Y). A moderated mediation analysis was conducted using Model 14 in the PROCESS procedure for SPSS (Hayes, 2013). Contrary to predictions, the moderated mediation effect was not significant. However, as expected, loneliness was found to mediate the relationship between cyberbullying and negative psychosocial outcomes. Implications of findings are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D. in Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Autry, Alicia Luscomb

Contributors dc:contributor

• Alan M. Gross
• Kathy Knight
• Scott A. Gustafson

• Cyberbullying
• Loneliness
• Resilience
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/831

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1830