Cyberbullying and Depression Among Adolescents in an Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital

Background: While cyberbullying has been tied to mental health problems, there is a lack of research related to this phenomenon and associated psychopathology among the adolescent inpatient psychiatric hospital population. Objective: To examine the relationship between cyber aggression, cyber victimization, and depression among adolescents (N = 100) in an acute inpatient psychiatric setting. Method: We utilized the Cyber Peer Experiences Questionnaire and the Center for Epidemiological Studies- Depression Scale to obtain information related to cyberbullying and depression. Results: The findings indicate 95% prevalence rate of cyber victimization and 94% prevalence rate of cyber aggression among participants, during the previous two months. The findings also indicated there was a significant difference between the association of gender and cyber victimization (t = 4.12, df = 69, p = 0.01) and gender and cyber aggression (t = 2.36, df = 48, p ≤ 0.02). Ninety nine percent of females reported experiencing cyber victimization (M = 25.53) at least once in the previous two months, compared to 87% of males (M = 20.10). Additionally, 97% of females reported participating in cyber aggression (M = 20.31) at least once in the previous two months, compared to 87% of males (M = 17.73). The findings also indicated a significant association between cyber victimization and depression (r = 0.218, p ≤ 0.03) and adolescents who reported experiencing cyber victimization were significantly likely to engage in cyber aggression (r = .555, p ≤ 0.01). Conclusions: Inpatient psychiatric hospitals need to update assessment and treatment procedures to account for the impact cyberbullying has on the adolescent population.