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How do Adolescents Learn Cyber-victimization Coping Skills? An Examination of Parent and Peer Coping Socialization

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Abstract

Recently, cyber-victimization has become an ever increasing concern for adolescents. Given the negative consequences of cyber-victimization, it is important to understand how adolescents learn strategies to cope (i.e., “coping socialization”) with cyber-victimization. The purpose of this study is to understand common coping strategies reported by adolescents, identify from whom youth learn cyber-victimization coping strategies (coaching), and explore how coaching is associated with adolescents’ self-reported use of coping. In a sample of 329 adolescents (49% male; 70% white), we found that positive coping strategies (e.g., problem solving, seeking social support) are used most frequently, and adolescents’ perceptions of both parent and peer coping socialization is associated with self-reported use of coping. Interventionists can use this information to adapt interventions to include influential positive socializers.

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Authors’ Contributions

S.B. conceived of the study, participated in its design and data collection, performed statistical analyses, interpreted data, and engaged in and coordinated and drafted the manuscript; E.D. assisted in the conception of the study, participated in the design, statistical analyses, interpretation of the data, and participated in the drafting of the manuscript; S.D. participated in statistical analyses, data interpretation, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Data Sharing Declaration

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Author notes

  1. Stacey L. Bradbury

    Present address: Traumatic Stress Center, 444 N. Main St., Akron, OH, 44310, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43403, USA

    Stacey L. Bradbury & Eric F. Dubow

  2. Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI, 48859, USA

    Sarah E. Domoff

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  1. Stacey L. Bradbury
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  2. Eric F. Dubow
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Correspondence to Stacey L. Bradbury.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Bradbury, S.L., Dubow, E.F. & Domoff, S.E. How do Adolescents Learn Cyber-victimization Coping Skills? An Examination of Parent and Peer Coping Socialization. J Youth Adolescence 47, 1866–1879 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0812-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0812-y

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