Impact of Cyberbullying on the Mental Health of Mexican Young Adults

Gloria Margarita Gurrola Peña^1*, Patricia Balcázar Nava¹, José Luis Ybarra Sagarduy², Luz Adriana Orozco Ramírez² & Priscila Montañez Alvarado³

¹Autonomous University of Mexico State, Mexico
²Autonomous University of Tamaulipas, Mexico
³Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

Dr. Gloria Margarita Gurrola Peña, Autonomous University of Mexico State, Mexico.

Keywords: Cyberbullying; Young Adults; Mental Health

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the various forms of cyberbullying on university students. We worked with a sample of 1508 students from four universities in North and Central Mexico. After giving informed consent, the students answered the Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and the Cyberbullying Victimization Questionnaire (CBQ-V). With the resulting data, descriptive statistics were developed to show the prevalence and differences by gender of cyberbullying, and a correlation between the cyberbullying victimization and mental health of the students. Finally, a stepwise linear regression was carried out in order to estimate the impact of the different forms of cyberbullying on mental health. The main results indicate a prevalence of 39.4%, and that there are no differences by gender. Regarding the impact of cyberbullying behaviours, significant differences were found by gender, with women being the most affected. It was also identified that the model consisting of behaviours related to identity theft, isolation in social networks and the sending of threatening and insulting messages predict 21.3% of the development of psychopathological symptoms in victims.

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