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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1486628
This article is part of the Research Topic Youth Mental Health, Particularly in Asian Populations View all 66 articles
Relations Between Peer Bullying and Adolescent Depression: The Mediating Effect of Cellphone Usage
Provisionally accepted
Guangping Xie 1*
Ying Shen 2 Yongjie Zhou 3
Shuyang Ren 4 Yanyan Li 4 Yongshi Liu 4 Rong Zhou 4
Xiwang Fan 4- 1 Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Ganzhou, China
- 2 The Third Peoples Hospital of Ganzhou, Ganzhou, China
- 3 Shenzhen KangNing Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
- 4 Shanghai Pudong New Area Mental Health Center, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
Adolescent depression is a growing concern worldwide. This study explores the relationship between peer bullying, cellphone usage, and adolescent depression, aiming to investigate a mediation effect model based on Erikson's stages of psychological development.Using a cluster sampling method and a cross-sectional survey, a total of 2343 adolescents aged 12 to 18 were recruited from 12 national medical institutions. Cluster sampling was used to select participants who were confirmed to have depression. The survey employed the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale (MPVS), the Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for paper-and-pencil evaluations. The three variables were analyzed using SPSS 26 software, applying correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis . The results showed that peer bullying has significant positive correlation with depression (r=0.330, p<0.001) and with cellphone use (r=0.287, p<0.001). Furthermore, cellphone usage was positively correlated with depression (r=0.333, p<0.001). Additionally, cellphone usage had a partial mediating effect between peer bullying and depression (r=0.414, p<0.001, β=0.234). The results underscore the crucial role of peer relationships in adolescent psychological development. cellphone addiction mediates the link between adolescent depression and peer bullying, highlighting its significant impact. These findings contribute to understanding the interplay between social influence and depression, offering practical guidelines for fostering a supportive school environment and regulating adolescents' phone use.
Keywords: Peer bullying, adolescent depression, Cellphone addiction, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale (MPVS), Mobile Phone Addiction Index (MPAI)
Received: 26 Aug 2024; Accepted: 20 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xie, Shen, Zhou, Ren, Li, Liu, Zhou and Fan. 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:
Guangping Xie, Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Ganzhou, China
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