Does gender moderate the relationship between bullying victimization and depression? A longitudinal study

BMC Psychol. 2026 Jun 5. doi: 10.1186/s40359-026-04936-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Existing literature indicates that bullying victimization elevates the risk of depression among adolescents; however, longitudinal evidence on the associations between specific types of victimization (physical, verbal, relational, and cyberbullying) and depression remains limited, particularly with regard to gender differences. This study examined the predictive effects of these four forms of victimization on depression at a six-month follow-up and further explored the moderating role of gender.

METHODS: We collected two-wave longitudinal data from 457 Grade 10 students (230 boys, 227 girls; Mage = 15.93, SD = 1.94) at a high school in Gansu Province, China, in June 2024 (T1) and December 2024 (T2). Participants completed a series of self-report questionnaires, including measures of demographic characteristics, the Revised Bullying Victimization Questionnaire (BVQ-R), and the depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine both main and interaction effects, and simple slope analyses were performed to probe significant interactions.

RESULTS: After adjusting for demographic covariates, all four forms of T1 bullying victimization significantly predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms at T2 in the main-effects models. In the interaction models, none of the victimization × gender interaction terms reached statistical significance.

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that multiple forms of bullying victimization are prospectively associated with subsequent depressive symptoms and that these associations do not appear to vary by gender in this sample.

PMID:42249517 | DOI:10.1186/s40359-026-04936-1