Abstract

WENDT, Guilherme Welter  and  LISBOA, Carolina Saraiva de Macedo. Cyberbullying and depression in adolescents . Psicol. Am. Lat. [online]. 2020, n.34, pp.221-231. ISSN 1870-350X.

This cross-sectional study evaluated the prevalence of cyberbullying in a sample of adolescents, also exploring the associations with depression and differences in relation to the cyberbullying occurrence according to sociodemographic variables. 367 adolescents took part (M = 14.76 years; SD = 1.40; 55.6% female). 72.7% and 75.6% reported at least one episode of cyber aggression and cyber victimization in the previous six months, respectively. Prevalent cyberbullying forms were making jokes in online forums. There were no differences between gender in the occurrence of cyberbullying, yet differences were noted in relation to the participants' age, showing that older adolescents were more involved with cyberbullying. Positive correlations were noted between cyberbullying with age, time spent on the internet and depression. Those who were involved in both cyber aggression and cyber victimization reported higher levels of depression. Results are discussed in the light of implications for prevention and treatment.

Keywords : Cyberbullying; Depression; Adolescence.

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