Abstract
Adolescence is often a period of turmoil. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased adolescents' difficulty due to mental health consequences that may affect their developmental milestones. This study constructed and empirically tested a theoretical model of three predictive factors (cyberbullying, abuse, and screen time) and stress as the mediating factor in adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Structural equation model (SEM) analysis was applied to investigate stress as a mediating factor in the relationship between adolescent NSSI and cyberbullying, abuse, and screen time. This cross-sectional study used a “crowdsourcing” sample collection method to recruit 464 adolescents aged 11–17 years who were administered a questionnaire comprising scales on cyberbullying, abuse, screen time, stress, and NSSI. All scales had construct reliabilities ranging from 0.759 to 0.958. SEM statistical analysis was performed using Lisrel version 8.8 (Scientific Software International, USA) for Windows (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA). The mean (± SD) age of the cohort was 14.61 ± 1.65 years, and consisted of 66.7% females. Secondary high school was the highest educational background (58%). The study found that cyberbullying and abuse were direct positive predictors (critical t-value for the path > 1.96; p < 0.05) of adolescent NSSI; however, screen time did not have any direct relationship. Furthermore, stress was a significant full mediating factor of screen time and a partial mediating factor of cyberbullying and abuse in the relationship with adolescent NSSI (critical t-value of the path = 5.27; p < 0.05). Cyberbullying, screen time, and abuse with the mediating effect of stress could explain 48% of the variance in adolescent NSSI (R2 = 0.48). Adolescent mental health prevention and promotion programs need to be redesigned during the current COVID-19 pandemic to manage their stress and minimize the mental health consequences of cyberbullying, abuse, and inappropriately increased screen time.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued for more than 1 year
Internet access among adolescents has been estimated at 79.5%, and most of them use the Internet for several purposes such as to seek information for school activities, connect with their peer groups through social media networking, and for entertainment [2]
Participants were from several provinces in Indonesia; the greatest proportion was from Jakarta (68.5%), followed by West Java (10.6%), Banten Province (6.7%), East Java (4.5%), Central Java (2.8%), and Sumatra (2.5%)
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued for more than 1 year. Globally, most schools and public places have been temporarily closed. Students have been instructed to stay at home, engage in social distancing during daily activities, and study from home [1] They used various Internet devices to stay connected to their schools and peers. Adolescents have missed several important milestones, including direct social interactions with peers, making new friends, and sports activities, among others [1, 2] They have been forced to adapt to new educational styles (i.e., online learning, examination[s], and group work), especially students in their final year of high school. Students entering the new academic year, if they have transitioned to a new school, can only meet their new friends or teachers via online classes [3, 4] Their screen time has been increased compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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