Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Internet, Education and Information Technology (IEIT 2025)

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Mediating Effect of Depression Between Cyberbullying Victimization Experience and Negative Bystander Behavior Among College Students

Authors
Chaochao Fan1, 2, Fei Guo1, 2, *, Zhiyan Chen1, 2, Qingsen He3
1State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
2Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
3School of Nursing, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China
*Corresponding author. Email: guof@psych.ac.cn
Corresponding Author
Fei Guo
Available Online 31 July 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-803-5_54How to use a DOI?
Keywords
cyberbullying victimization experience; depression; negative bystander behavior
Abstract

To examine the mediating effect of depression on cyberbullying victimization experience and negative bystander behavior among college student. Undergraduate students from freshman to senior years were sampled from a university in Henan Province using a convenience sampling method in May 2024. A virtual cyberbullying scenario was presented via an online questionnaire. After viewing it, the participants completed the Bystanders’ Negative Behaviors Questionnaire, the Cyberbullying Experience Questionnaire, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. The Process macro program was used to analyze the mediating effect of depression between cyberbullying victimization experience and negative bystander behavior, and the Bootstrap method was employed to test the significance of the mediating effect. A total of 1147 students were surveyed, and 1022 valid questionnaires were obtained, with a valid rate of 89.10%. Among them, 193 were male students (18.88%), and 829 were female students (81.12%). There were 348 freshmen (34.05%), 319 sophomores (31.21%), 289 juniors (28.28%), and 66 seniors (6.46%). The average age was (20.26 ± 1.12) years old. The median score of cyberbullying victimization experience was 1.00 (interquartile range, 0.50), the median score of depressive symptoms was 8.00 (interquartile range, 6.00), and the median score of bystanders’ negative behaviors was 2.08 (interquartile range, 1.25). The results of the mediating effect analysis indicated that the cyberbullying victimization experience could directly and positively affect bystanders’ negative behaviors, with an effect value of 0.329 (95%CI: 0.251 - 0.407). It could also indirectly affect bystanders’ negative behaviors through depression, with an effect value of 0.067 (95%CI: 0.042 - 0.096). The indirect effect accounted for 16.92% of the total effect. College students’ experiences of being cyberbullying victims can directly or indirectly affect bystanders’ negative behaviors through the mediating role of depression.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Internet, Education and Information Technology (IEIT 2025)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities
Publication Date
31 July 2025
ISBN
978-94-6463-803-5
ISSN
2667-128X
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-803-5_54How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Chaochao Fan
AU  - Fei Guo
AU  - Zhiyan Chen
AU  - Qingsen He
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/07/31
TI  - Mediating Effect of Depression Between Cyberbullying Victimization Experience and Negative Bystander Behavior Among College Students
BT  - Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Internet, Education and Information Technology (IEIT 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 580
EP  - 590
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-803-5_54
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-803-5_54
ID  - Fan2025
ER  -