Cyberbullying Victimization and Non-suicidal Self-Injurious Behavior Among Chinese Adolescents: School Engagement as a Mediator and Sensation Seeking as a Moderator

Abstract

Although a large body of research has indicated that cyberbullying victimization is a crucial risk factor for adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. To address this research gap, this study, based on the social control theory and the organismenvironment interaction model, was designed to test whether school engagement mediated the relationship between cyberbullying victimization and adolescent NSSI and whether this mediating effect was moderated by sensation seeking. A sample of 1,102 adolescents (M age = 13.17; SD = 0.69) anonymously completed the questionnaires. The results showed that the positive association between cyberbullying victimization and adolescent NSSI was mediated by school engagement. Moreover, this indirect link was significant for adolescents with high-level sensation seeking but non-significant for adolescents with low-level sensation seeking. These findings highlight school engagement as a potential mechanism linking cyberbullying victimization to adolescent NSSI, and high sensation seeking was an important risk factor to amplify this indirect effect. Intervention programs aimed at reducing NSSI among adolescents may benefit from the current research.

Deviant Peer Affiliation and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury among Chinese Adolescents: Depression as a Mediator and Sensation Seeking as a Moderator

“…Thus, adolescents are more strongly influenced by peers, regardless of the level of sensation seeking. This result supports the view that peers have a crucial impact on adolescent development [22,32,48].…”

“…To be specific, high levels of sensation seeking significantly amplified the impact of depression on adolescent NSSI. These findings were in alignment with a prior study that found that sensation seeking magnified the association between a risk factor (cyberbullying victimization) and adolescent NSSI [32]. According to the sensation seeking theory [49,50], individuals who seek high sensation also tend to enjoy novel experiences and taking risks, which in turn increases the possibility that they will use a risky behavior such as NSSI to escape depression [51].…”

“…The responses were averaged across the 7 items, with higher scores indicating more frequent NSSI. Previous research showed that the scale had good reliability in measuring Chinese adolescents' NSSI [32]. Cronbach's alpha in this study was 0.84.…”

“…Sensation seeking, as a key individual difference, may strengthen the association between deviant peer affiliation and NSSI. Prior research elucidated that sensation seeking could moderate the relationship between a risky environment and antisocial behaviors [30][31][32]. For instance, sensation seeking interacted with deviant peer affiliation to predict drug use in a sample of Chinese reform school students [33].…”

“…For instance, sensation seeking interacted with deviant peer affiliation to predict drug use in a sample of Chinese reform school students [33]. Similarly, Yu et al [32] found that adolescents' high sensation seeking amplified the effect of cyberbullying victimization on NSSI.…”