The results of the study support one of the hypothesis while the research did not support the second hypothesis, leaving speculation regarding the research question, do victims of repeated cyber bullying episodes have less depressive symptoms when using emotion-focused coping strategies? This indicates further analysis of the research needs to be conducted in order to identify what coping methods are best adapted to depressive symptoms in relation to repeat cyber bullying.
A comparison between levels of cyber bullying and level of depressive symptoms in university students demonstrated support for the hypothesis that university student that experience repeated cyber bullying will have higher instances of depression than those university …show more content…
This hypothesis was not supported, the current study found that depression increased with the use of emotion-focused coping strategies which is the opposite to what was hypothesized. Previous studies have found results supporting the hypothesis that emotion-focused coping relates to lower levels of depression and alternately avoidance strategies where a predictor of higher levels of depression (Machmutow et al., 2012). However other comparable studies have found that problem-focused strategies deal with the situation in a faster manner thus eliminating the mental health concerns (Raskauskas & Huynh, 2015). Although similar these studies found different results this may be related to population or coping categories, as the current study contained two categories either problem focused or emotion-focused however the aforementioned studies contain additional categories for coping including but not limited to avoidance …show more content…
An important avenue of research that stems from studies such as these is studies regarding prevention of cyber bullying rather than reactive studies. Further research needs to focus on the creating of a systematic and detailed coping method questionnaire to create consistency in coping focused studies as currently studies vary in coping groups which leads to inconsistency of results over time. To conclude, the evidence in this study shows depressive symptoms worsen over continued episodes of cyberbully and emotion-focused coping may not be a helpful coping method in regard to cyber bullying. Given the relatively few studies on cyber bullying in university students and their coping methods this study is highly warranted in today’s modern
A comparison between levels of cyber bullying and level of depressive symptoms in university students demonstrated support for the hypothesis that university student that experience repeated cyber bullying will have higher instances of depression than those university …show more content…
This hypothesis was not supported, the current study found that depression increased with the use of emotion-focused coping strategies which is the opposite to what was hypothesized. Previous studies have found results supporting the hypothesis that emotion-focused coping relates to lower levels of depression and alternately avoidance strategies where a predictor of higher levels of depression (Machmutow et al., 2012). However other comparable studies have found that problem-focused strategies deal with the situation in a faster manner thus eliminating the mental health concerns (Raskauskas & Huynh, 2015). Although similar these studies found different results this may be related to population or coping categories, as the current study contained two categories either problem focused or emotion-focused however the aforementioned studies contain additional categories for coping including but not limited to avoidance …show more content…
An important avenue of research that stems from studies such as these is studies regarding prevention of cyber bullying rather than reactive studies. Further research needs to focus on the creating of a systematic and detailed coping method questionnaire to create consistency in coping focused studies as currently studies vary in coping groups which leads to inconsistency of results over time. To conclude, the evidence in this study shows depressive symptoms worsen over continued episodes of cyberbully and emotion-focused coping may not be a helpful coping method in regard to cyber bullying. Given the relatively few studies on cyber bullying in university students and their coping methods this study is highly warranted in today’s modern