2498 - BULLYING VICTIMIZATION AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS AMONG ADOLESCENTS: THE ROLES OF MEANING IN LIFE AND STRESS MINDSET

Session: D05S019 - Psychosocial risk
AUTHORS:
Lyu Muhua (Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University ~ Beijing ~ China) , Xiong Yuke (Department of Psychology, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University ~ Nanjing ~ China) , Ren Ping (Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University ~ Beijing ~ China)
Abstract text:
Background: Bullying victimization is a serious stressful event in schools and is widespread among adolescents. The experience of bullying victimization has long-lasting deleterious effects on adolescents' mental health, including depressive symptoms and other internalizing problems. Previous literature has shown that bullying victimization is an important risk factor for depressive symptoms among adolescents. However, not all adolescents will experience depressive symptoms. Explaining how and when bullying victimization leads to depressive symptoms is pivotal to developing effective preventive measures and interventions. Stress mindset refers to the belief that stress can have enhancing consequences (a "stress-is-enhancing mindset") or debilitating consequences (a "stress-is-debilitating mindset"). Stress-is-enhancing mindset is considered a buffer factor in the face of stressors. Guided by the shattered assumptions theory and the implicit theory, this study examined the mediating effect of meaning in life on the relation between bullying victimization and depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating effect of a stress mindset among adolescents. Methods: Using a short-term longitudinal design, two-wave data were obtained from 3,547 Chinese adolescents (52.4% boys; Mage = 12.36; SD = 0.50) from 76 classes over six months. Results: (1) T1 meaning in life played a partial mediating role in the relation between T1 bullying victimization and T2 depressive symptoms. (2) T1 stress mindset moderated the effect of T1 bullying victimization on T1 meaning in life. Specifically, for adolescents with a stress-is-enhancing mindset, the negative association between bullying victimization and meaning in life was weaker than for adolescents with a stress-is-debilitating mindset. Conclusions: These findings clarify how and when bullying victimization can lead to depressive symptoms among adolescents. Given the considerable malleability of the stress mindset, it is highly beneficial to devise strategies and curricula that foster a stress-is-enhancing mindset in prevention and intervention programs targeting bullying and internalizing problems among adolescents.