More than just cyberbullying: Cyber sexual harassment as a stronger predictor of adolescent self-harm

Abstract Background Self-harm is a major public health concern among adolescents. Many predictors of self-harm have been identified, but studies examining the role of cyber victimisation, in particular cyber sexual harassment, need to be explored further. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which cyberbullying and cyber sexual harassment victimisation predict self-harm among 15-year-old adolescents. Design and methods Cross-sectional survey data from 1211 9th-grade Swedish pupils (response rate 81%, 50.1% girls, mean age 15.2) were used to conduct hierarchical multiple regression analyses separately for girls and boys. Self-harm was the outcome measured by four items indicating deliberately inflicted harm in the last six months. Results Both cyberbullying and cyber sexual harassment victimisation significantly predicted self-harm in adolescent girls (β = 0.42, p < .001; β = 0.511, p < .001) and boys (β = 0.288, p < .001; β = 0.315, p < .001). Cyber sexual harassment victimisation had a stronger impact on self-harm than cyberbullying for both girls and boys. The cyber victimisation measures explained a greater proportion of the variance in self-harm among girls (Adjusted R2 0.339 and 0.401, respectively) compared to boys (Adjusted R2 0.237 and 0.252, respectively). Family support consistently emerged as a significant protective predictor of self-harm in both genders. Conclusions Both cyberbullying and cyber sexual harassment victimisation predicted self-harm in adolescent girls and boys, but cyber sexual harassment was a stronger predictor for both genders. Gender differences were evident: the cyber victimisation measures were stronger predictors and explained a more significant proportion of the variance in self-harm for girls. These findings highlight the importance of considering multiple forms of cyber victimisation to better understand self-harm predictors among 15-year-olds. Key messages • Both cyberbullying and cyber sexual harassment victimisation are important predictors of self-harm in adolescent girls and boys. • Cyber sexual harassment was a stronger predictor for self-harm than cyberbullying for both genders in this analysis.