Abstract
Bullying victimization has been recognized as a risk factor for social, physical, and psychological problems in adolescence. One promising resource that seems to protect adolescents from adversity and traumatic events is gratitude. However, no analysis of the specific role of gratitude in bullying context has been performed as yet. Thus, the aim of this research was to explore the associations between bullying victimization, gratitude and suicide risk (i.e., depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts and behaviors) and gender-based differences. We also investigated whether levels of gratitude moderated the relationship between victimization and suicide risk for girls and boys. A convenience sample of 1,617 adolescents (50.5% girls; M age = 14.02) participated in this research. Adolescents completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire about their bullying victimization, gratitude, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Gratitude was found to be negatively related to victimization and suicide risk. While no gender differences were found in gratitude, it was observed that girls reported higher levels of suicide risk. However, the victimization × gratitude interaction contributed to variance in suicide risk, but only for girls: Those girls who were victims of bullying with high gratitude scores reported lower suicide risk than their counterparts who showed less gratitude. Thus, the findings from this present cross-sectional study suggest that gratitude is related to suicide risk in the context of bullying victimization, especially among adolescent girls. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of our novel contributions to the understanding of gratitude as a protective factor against consequences of bullying victimization are discussed.
Highlights
Recent studies have indicated that bullying victimization – i.e., when an adolescent is beaten, insulted, threatened, robbed, excluded, or rumored intentionally and repeatedly by some student or several physically or psychologically strengthen; Ortega-Ruiz et al, 2016 – has considerable amounts of negative consequences for both the physical and mental health of adolescents (Povedano et al, 2015; Stapinski et al, 2015)
This study aimed to examine the relationship between victimization and suicide risk in adolescents aged 12–17 years and to delve into the role played by gratitude in the bullying victimization-suicide risk relationship
Regarding the first hypothesis (H1), the results are in line with previous literature suggesting that adolescents who are bullied at school are more likely to show a decreased psychological adjustment and higher levels of depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors
Summary
Recent studies have indicated that bullying victimization – i.e., when an adolescent is beaten, insulted, threatened, robbed, excluded, or rumored intentionally and repeatedly by some student or several physically or psychologically strengthen; Ortega-Ruiz et al, 2016 – has considerable amounts of negative consequences for both the physical and mental health of adolescents (Povedano et al, 2015; Stapinski et al, 2015) Consistent with these findings, bullying research has shown that victimized adolescents often report high levels of affective disorders and negative health outcomes such as depression and suicidal behavior and ideation (Özdemir and Stattin, 2011; Fredrick and Demaray, 2018). Most studies have found that bullying victimization is more common for girls than for boys, others have found that boys are generally more victimized than girls, and, even, some research has found no gender differences (Zych et al, 2015)
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