The relationship between parental psychological control, cyberbullying victimization, and nonsuicidal self-injury among boarding school adolescents

Front Psychiatry. 2026 Jan 14;16:1695119. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1695119. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the relationship between parental psychological control and nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescents in boarding schools and to examine the mediating role of cyberbullying victimization in this relationship.

METHODS: This study included 378 adolescents from boarding schools and utilized the Parental Psychological Control Scale, the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale, and the Nonsuicidal Self-injury Scale.

RESULTS: Parental psychological control was significantly positively correlated with nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescents in boarding schools. Cyberbullying victimization mediated the relationship between parental psychological control and nonsuicidal self-injury (indirect effect = 0.017, SE = 0.008 [95% CI = 0.003, 0.034]).

CONCLUSIONS: This finding highlights that nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescents in boarding schools results from the combined effect of distal family factors (e.g., parental psychological control) and proximal cyber stress (e.g., cyberbullying victimization), providing a reference for future targeted interventions.

PMID:41614108 | PMC:PMC12847338 | DOI:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1695119