Speaker
Description
Background and Objective:
The intersection of cyberbullying victimization and eating disorders has garnered considerable attention in recent years. Exist investigations demonstrate that there are strong correlations between cyberbullying victimization, negative emotion, low self-esteem, and eating disorders. This study aims to examine whether the association between cyberbullying victimization and eating disorders was mediated by self-esteem, and whether the effect of cyberbullying victimization on eating disorders and the mediating effect of self-esteem were moderated by deviant and peer association.
Methodology:
The online surveys were employed to collect data from undergraduate students (N=723) in Singapore (Mean age=22.8; 68.2% female, 87.2% Chinese). The measures of the study comprised cyberbullying victimization as an exogenous variable, eating disorders as an endogenous variable, self-esteem as a mediator, deviant peer association as a moderator, and covariates (age, gender, ethnicity, maternal education level, family income). The statistical analyses including descriptive analysis, chi-square, t-test, correlation, mediation, and moderated mediation were completed.
Results:
In the first two-models, cyberbullying victimization was positively associated with eating disorder and negatively associated with self-esteem, respectively. The negative association between self-esteem and eating disorder was moderated by deviant peer association, and the moderated mediation of deviant peer association and self-esteem was statistically significant.
Conclusions:
School personnel and service practitioners should better understand the mechanisms of the association between cyberbullying, self-esteem, deviant peer association, and eating disorders. Building strong peer support networks and healthy body image and self-esteem might be effective ways of interventions.
Keywords
Cyberbullying Victimization; Eating Disorders: Deviant Peer Association; Self-Esteem; Moderated Mediation Model
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
|---|---|
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
