Study Links All Types of Cyberbullying to PTSD in Teens

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by News-Medical.

A new national study adds to the growing body of research showing that cyberbullying should be considered an adverse childhood experience (ACE) – a category of childhood trauma linked to long-term emotional, psychological and physical harm.

While many assume that only extreme forms of online harassment – like threats or identity-based attacks – can cause significant harm, the findings suggest a more troubling reality: even less visible or indirect forms of cyberbullying can have equally damaging effects.

With more than 30% of students facing bullying globally, this is particularly alarming in the digital age, where cyberbullying is widespread and exacerbated by factors such as social media and online interactions.

The study, conducted by Florida Atlantic University in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, investigated the link between cyberbullying and trauma in a nationally-representative sample of 2,697 middle and high school students (ages 13 to 17) in the United States.

Researchers investigated the relationship between the prevalence of 18 different types of cyberbullying, including exclusion (being left out of an online group chat); impersonation (e.g., creating fake social media accounts in someone else’s name); and stalking behaviors (e.g., being tracked or monitored after the victim told the aggressor to stop) – and symptoms of PTSD.

Results, published in the latest issue of BMC Public Health, reveal that cyberbullying is both widespread and strongly linked to a validated nine-item Post Traumatic Stress clinical scale. What was especially striking was that exclusion and rejection, often dismissed as less serious, were just as trauma-inducing as explicit threats to one’s physical safety. Likewise, being the subject of gossip or cruel online comments had an emotional toll comparable to being harassed for personal traits like one’s race or religion.

Among the different forms of online harassment, indirect forms were the most common. More than half of the surveyed students reported being the target of mean or hurtful comments or rumors, and a similar number said they were deliberately excluded from group chats or texts. Notably, almost 9 in 10 (87%) experienced at least one of the 18 forms of victimization, underscoring the increasing ubiquity of digital aggression and its normative presence when youth interact online.

When the researchers analyzed how cyberbullying relates to trauma, they found that girls and younger teens were more likely to experience higher levels of traumatic symptoms than boys or older teens. However, once they factored in how much cyberbullying each student had experienced, these demographic differences became less important.

Source: News-Medical
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250515/Study-links-all-types-of-cyberbullying-to-PTSD-in-teens.aspx