Can Social Support Protect the Mental Health of College Students Who Experienced Bullying in High School?

Transitioning from high school to college can be challenging and put young adults at risk for problematic mental health, particularly for those with bullying victimization histories. Bullying detrimentally impacts psychological well-being and mental health, both concurrently and in the future. Social support positively influences college students’ emotional, social, and academic performance. However, few studies have examined the extent to which different types of bullying, as well as different sources of social support, may interact to predict mental health symptoms. Further, few studies examine associations between bullying victimization and mental health symptoms across the transition from high school to college. We examined three sources of social support (and their composite) measured during college as moderators between high school bullying victimization (traditional, cyberbullying) and college mental health (anxiety, depressive symptoms) in a sample of young adults from the Southeast United States (n = 329). Thus, we hypothesized that social support may protect college students from the harmful effects of bullying on mental health. Multivariate linear regressions revealed that higher levels of both traditional and cyberbullying during high school predicted worse mental health during college, and higher levels of social support in college predicted better concurrent mental health. However, social support did not moderate links between either type of bullying victimization in high school and mental health in college. Our findings provide evidence for institutions and educators regarding the importance of fostering social support (e.g., developing new friendships, maintaining existing support systems with close family or friends) for young adults as they transition to college.