Bullying and social media in youth: a longitudinal study of their impact on adolescent mental health, well-being, and academic performance – Cyberlife

We propose a three-year longitudinal study of a representative sample of 4,000 students from 7th to 9th grade. The sampling strategy is designed to obtain a sample of students that is representative of the students enrolled in the Gironde region. Data will be collected yearly from multiple informants including adolescents, parents, teachers, and schools administrators. Schools will be asked to document school characteristics, prevention efforts in place regarding (cyber)bullying, actions taken to limit (cyber)bullying, documented (cyber)bullying events in the previous year, regulations regarding cell phone use and internet access on site. Parents will be asked to report sociodemographic characteristics, child mental health, the adolescent's access to the internet and social media, and their knowledge of their child's involvement in bullying. Adolescents will be asked to complete questionnaires regarding their mental health and well-being, their use of social media, and their involvement in bullying. Academic performance will be documented by the schools. Each year, parents and adolescents will be recontacted for the follow-up regardless of whether or not their child changed schools.
Each year, a subgroup of adolescents at varying risk for (cyber)bullying involvement will undergo an Ecological Momentary Assessment period. During the 14-day assessment, they will be asked to document their positive and negative affect, their experiences of (cyber)bullying and their actions in response to these events, and their use of social media.

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Background. Being bullied or bullying others is known to be associated with poor academic performance and mental disorders in youth and to have deleterious consequences later in life. Cyberbullying is facilitated by the use of social networking sites (SNS). Ambulatory monitoring techniques such as Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) are in a unique position to provide a better understanding of the immediate and bi-directional effects between SNS, bullying behavior and psychopathology.
Objectives. To combine epidemiology and ambulatory monitoring techniques in order to examine the interactions between (cyber) bullying, social media and mental health problems over time.
Methods. We seek to follow 4,000 seven graders (French 5ème, average age: 12 years old) over a period of three years. The sampling strategy is designed to identify a sample of students who are representative of middle school students attending public schools in the Gironde region. School level data, parent reported data and adolescent reported data will be collected once a year. School-level data include school characteristics, school policy against (cyber)bullying, school record of bullying-related events, school policy in terms of cell phone and Internet use. Parent-reported data include sociodemographic characteristics, parental psychological distress, child’s history of chronic illness or traumatic events, access to Internet and social media, parent-reported child mental health, parent-awareness of bullying. Adolescent-level data includes child self-reported access to Internet and social media, child self-reported mental health, involvement in traditional and cyberbullying, and school-reported academic achievement. All of the participants who completed the baseline assessments will be invited to complete the follow-up assessments a year later, regardless of whether the child continued to 8th grade (4eme) or was held back in 7th grade (5eme). Each year, a subgroup (n=200) at varying risk for involvement in bullying will complete an EMA for two consecutive weeks with 3 assessments per day. At each assessment, the adolescent (n= 600, total) will be asked to report on positive and negative affect, energy, irritability, well-being, (cyber) bullying events, subsequent actions including whether they talked to someone about the event, retaliated or isolated from bullies. In addition, respondents will be asked about their use of SNS in the previous 4 hours. EMA data will be collected using smartphones that only serve to collect data, and do not allow the adolescent to either call, text, or use the Internet.
Potential impact. At the international level, the majority of studies in this field have been cross-sectional in nature. The current study is the first to combine a longitudinal epidemiology design and novel ambulatory monitoring techniques to provide insights for the prevention of the development of mental disorders in adolescents exposed to or perpetrators of bullying. The study will also allow us to examine the impact of school level variables such as anti-bullying policy, prevention and enforcement on child well-being.