Bullying Experiences, Depression, and the Moderating Role of Resilience Among Adolescents

INTRODUCTION: Resilience refers to the ability to adapt to difficult situation or adversity. Resilience is what gives people the psychological strength to cope with stress and hardship. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between resilience and bullying victimization and mental health problems. But whether the moderating effect of resilience against depression varies among victims of different types of bullying victimization remains unknown. METHODS: The study used data from the Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Study (TAALS), which was a school based, nationwide, longitudinal study conducted among adolescents in Taiwan. Between 2015 and 2019, the survey was repeated three times to capture changes in health behaviors. Meanwhile, our study is a cross-sectional study focusing on the 2nd follow-up survey of the TAALS, where we recruited 4,771 Grade 7 (12–13 years) and Grade 10 (15–16 years) students who had experienced bullying at school. RESULTS: This study confirms the protective effect of resilience on depression among adolescents who have experienced bullying. The mode resilience score was used as a reference group. Compared to the reference group, victims of verbal bullying from the lowest resilience group were at the greatest risk of depression (OR = 5.91, CI = 4.38–7.99). Compared to the reference group, victims of cyber bullying from the highest resilience group had the lowest risk of depression (OR = 0.72, CI = 0.57–0.90). CONCLUSION: Regardless of the type of bullying victimization, resilience has been shown to offer protection against depression. Specifically, higher resilience levels offer the greatest protection against depression for victims of cyber bullying compared to other three types of bullying victimization. Early interventions to reduce negative effects of bullying victimization may start with increasing an individual's resilience during adolescence.