The Influence of Perceived Reason for Being Bullied on the Relation between Type of Bullying and Depressive Symptoms

ABSTRACT

The present study investigates the role of perceived reason for being bullied on the outcomes of bullying. Using a sample of bullied youth from the 2017 administration of the PNA survey (n = 3,373), the present study tested the moderating effect of perceived reason for bullying on the relation between type of bullying experienced and depressive symptoms. Including perceived reason for being bullied eliminated the significant difference in depressive symptoms between in-school and cyberbullying. However, experiencing in-school and cyberbullying simultaneously (i.e., co-occurring victimization) was still associated with more depressive symptoms than in-school bullying or cyberbullying alone. Depressive symptoms were amplified when cyberbullying was perceived to be due to a sexual identity reason, suppressed when co-occurring victimization was perceived to be due to a social reason, and amplified when co-occurring victimization was perceived to be due to a status reason. Possible mechanisms of these interactions and implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Bullying
• depressive symptoms
• adolescents
• schools
• prevention

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge and thank our colleagues at Bach Harrison, LLC, the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, and the Utah Department of Health for their assistance with this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are available https://dsamh.utah.gov/sharp-survey with the permission of the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

Ethics approval

The Institutional Review Board of the University of Utah determined this analysis was except from approval due to the data being previously deidentified (IRB_00123821).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Benjamin R. Ratcliff

Benjamin R. Ratcliff is a doctoral candidate within the Counseling Psychology program at the University of Utah. His research interests include the risk and protective factors of adolescent substance use, the impact of childhood trauma, and prevention science.

Jason J. Burrow-Sánchez

Jason J. Burrow-Sánchez is a Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah. His research interests include the prevention and treatment of substance use in adolescent populations in school and community settings.