Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Digital Mental Health
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1427655
This article is part of the Research Topic The Effect of Digital Usage on Mental Health and Adaptation of Adolescents in the Post-Pandemic Era View all 8 articles

Exploring the relationships among online social capital, Internet self-efficacy, mental health, and cyberbully-victim roles in adolescents: A structural equation model

Provisionally accepted
Qiqi Chen Qiqi Chen Shaolingyun Guo Shaolingyun Guo Ko Ling Chan Ko Ling Chan *
  • Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The prevalence and effects of cyberbullying are well-established, while there is sparse evidence addressing the experiences of those in vocational schools. Social capital and self-efficacy have attracted significant public and scholarly interest, but research on these factors in cyberspace remains limited in scope. This study aims to comprehensively investigate the pathways through which online social capital and Internet self-efficacy mediate the development of mental health consequences among adolescent cyberbullying victims. A total of 1,716 students in Grades 8-12 from public and vocational schools in China participated in the study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to specify the relationships between online social capital, Internet self-efficacy, cyberbullying, and mental health problems. Results showed that 12.12% of students reported themselves as cyber bully-victims. Internet self-efficacy could potentially mediate the effects of cyberbullying victimization and mental health problems in both school settings. Online social capital and Internet self-efficacy play mediating roles in the relationship between cyberbullying and mental health problems in public school samples. No significant effect of online social capital was found in the vocational school sample. The findings provide insights for proactive intervention in developing adequate online social capital and Internet self-efficacy training for cyberbullying prevention. Discussions on differentiated interventions for vocational school students are also presented to inspire future research and practice.

    Keywords: cyberbullying, Online social capital, Internet self-efficacy, structural equation model, Adolescent

    Received: 04 May 2024; Accepted: 31 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Guo and Chan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ko Ling Chan, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.