Association between cyberbullying and depression among higher vocational students in Anhui province

ObjectiveTo understand the current situation of cyberbullying among higher vocational students in Anhui province, and analyze the correlation between cyberbullying and depression, so as to provide the scientific basis for the intervention of cyberbullying and depression.

MethodsThe method of stratified cluster sampling was conducted, a total of 5 049 students from three vocational schools in Anhui province were investigated using questionaire, which included the general demographic characteristics, cyberbullying status and ZUNG self-rating depression scale.

ResultsA total of 4 858 valid questionnaires were collected, and the effective rate of questionnaire was 96.22%.Among the subjects, 201 students(4.14%), which included 88 males(43.8%) and 113 females(56.2%), with cyberbullying were identified.The total detection rate of depression was 3.05%(148 cases), which included the 146 cases of mild depression, 2 cases of moderate depression and no major depression.The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the cyberbullying was a risk factor of depression(P < 0.05), and the risk of developing depressive mood among the victims of cyberbullying was 2.034 times that of noncyberbullying(OR=2.034, 95%CI:1.120-3.696).

ConclusionThe cyberbullying is a common phenomenon among vocational college students, which is related to the generation of depression.