Cyber-victimization and suicidal ideation in adolescents: A longitudinal moderated mediation model

Cyber-victimization is a significant risk factor for suicidal ideation among adolescents. However, little research has studied how cyber-victimization may impact suicidal ideation over time, and little is known about what protective factors can buffer against these associations. Guided by the integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behavior, this longitudinal study inspected the mediating role of hopelessness in the relation between cyber-victimization and suicidal ideation and the moderating roles of mindfulness and perceived social support in those mediating associations. A total of 1110 Chinese early adolescents (46.1% female; Mage at Wave 1 = 12.90 years) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study with 6-month intervals. The results showed that cyber-victimization positively predicted adolescents’ suicidal ideation 1 year later, and this effect was fully mediated by hopelessness. Mindfulness buffered against the predictive effect of cyber-victimization on hopelessness, and perceived social support buffered against the predictive effect of hopelessness on suicidal ideation. The results further showed that the indirect effect of hopelessness was more salient when there were lower levels of mindfulness and perceived social support. This study reveals the moderated mediation processes explaining the impact of cyber-victimization on adolescents’ suicidal ideation. Fostering youth’s mindfulness and providing social support may attenuate the effects by which cyber-victimization causes suicidal ideation via hopelessness.