Mood and Suicidality among Cyberbullied Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study from Youth Risk Behavior Survey

Hsieh, Ya-Ching; Jain, Pratik; Veluri, Nikhila; Bhela, Jatminderpal; Sheikh, Batool; Bangash, Fariha; Gude, Jayasudha; Subhedar, Rashmi; Zhang, Michelle; Shah, Mansi; Mansuri, Zeeshan; Patel, Urvish; Aedma, Kapil Kiran; Parikh, Tapan

doi:10.3390/adolescents1040031

Open AccessArticle

Mood and Suicidality among Cyberbullied Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study from Youth Risk Behavior Survey

by

Ya-Ching Hsieh

¹

,

Pratik Jain

²

,

Nikhila Veluri

³

,

Jatminderpal Bhela

⁴,

Batool Sheikh

⁵,

Fariha Bangash

⁶,

Jayasudha Gude

⁷

,

Rashmi Subhedar

⁸

,

Michelle Zhang

⁹,

Mansi Shah

¹⁰,

Zeeshan Mansuri

¹¹,

Urvish Patel

^1,*

,

Kapil Kiran Aedma

^12,†

and

Tapan Parikh

^13,†

¹

Department of Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA

²

Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, New York, NY 13210, USA

³

American University of Integrative Sciences School of Medicine, Washington, DC 20016, USA

⁴

Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve/Metrohealth Hospital, Cleveland, OH 44109, USA

⁵

Department of Psychiatry, Brookdale Hospital Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11212, USA

⁶

Department of Psychiatry, CJW Medical Center, Richmond, VA 23225, USA

⁷

Department of Psychiatry, Northwell Health, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USA

⁸

Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada

⁹

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

¹⁰

Department of Psychiatry, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, Scranton, PA 18505, USA

¹¹

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA

¹²

Department of Psychiatry, Unitypoint Health, Peoria, IL 61602, USA

¹³

Department of Psychiatry, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60611, USA

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^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

Equally contributed senior authors.

Adolescents 2021, 1(4), 412-420; https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents1040031

Submission received: 29 June 2021 / Revised: 8 September 2021 / Accepted: 23 September 2021 / Published: 12 October 2021

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Abstract

Background: There is limited literature available showing the mental health burden among adolescents following cyberbullying. Objective: The aim was to evaluate the association between low mood and suicidality among cyberbullied adolescents. Method: A cross-sectional analysis of the data was performed among adolescents from the National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Responses from adolescents related to cyberbullying and suicidality were evaluated. Chi-square and mix-effect multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association of cyberbullying with sadness/hopelessness and suicide consideration, plan, and attempts. Results: Of a total of 8274 adolescents, 14.8% of adolescents faced cyberbullying past year. There was a higher prevalence of cyberbullying in youths aged 15, 16, and 17 years (25%, 26%, 23%, respectively), which included more females than males (68% vs. 32%; p < 0.0001). Caucasians (53%) had the highest number of responses to being cyberbullied compared to Hispanics (24%) or African Americans (11%; p < 0.0001). There was an increased prevalence of cyberbullied youths, 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 adolescents had a 155% higher chance of feeling sad and hopeless [aOR = 2.55; 95%CI = 2.39–2.72] and considered suicide [aOR = 1.52 (1.39–1.66)] and suicide plan [aOR = 1.24 (1.13–1.36)]. Conclusion: In our Study, cyberbullying was associated with negative mental health outcomes. Further research is warranted to examine the impact of cyberbullying among adolescents and guiding the policies to mitigate the consequences.

Keywords: cyberbullying; suicide; National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance; YRBS; sadness; hopelessness; adolescent health; mental health; depression

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MDPI and ACS Style

Hsieh, Y.-C.; Jain, P.; Veluri, N.; Bhela, J.; Sheikh, B.; Bangash, F.; Gude, J.; Subhedar, R.; Zhang, M.; Shah, M.; et al. Mood and Suicidality among Cyberbullied Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study from Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Adolescents 2021, 1, 412-420. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents1040031

AMA Style

Hsieh Y-C, Jain P, Veluri N, Bhela J, Sheikh B, Bangash F, Gude J, Subhedar R, Zhang M, Shah M, et al. Mood and Suicidality among Cyberbullied Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study from Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Adolescents. 2021; 1(4):412-420. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents1040031

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hsieh, Ya-Ching, Pratik Jain, Nikhila Veluri, Jatminderpal Bhela, Batool Sheikh, Fariha Bangash, Jayasudha Gude, Rashmi Subhedar, Michelle Zhang, Mansi Shah, and et al. 2021. "Mood and Suicidality among Cyberbullied Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study from Youth Risk Behavior Survey" Adolescents 1, no. 4: 412-420. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents1040031

APA Style

Hsieh, Y.-C., Jain, P., Veluri, N., Bhela, J., Sheikh, B., Bangash, F., Gude, J., Subhedar, R., Zhang, M., Shah, M., Mansuri, Z., Patel, U., Aedma, K. K., & Parikh, T. (2021). Mood and Suicidality among Cyberbullied Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study from Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Adolescents, 1(4), 412-420. https://doi.org/10.3390/adolescents1040031

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Mood and Suicidality among Cyberbullied Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study from Youth Risk Behavior Survey

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