Parental Support, Health, and Cyberbullying among Adolescents with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Some studies reveal that adolescents with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities are more likely to be victims of both face-to-face bullying and cyberbullying. Research also suggests that these adolescents are likely to witness bullying victimization. More research is needed to better understand the negative outcomes associated with their experiences. The purpose of this short-term longitudinal study was to investigate the buffering effect of parental social support on the associations of cyberbullying victimization and bystanding to subjective health complaints, suicidal ideation, and non-suicidal self-harm. Participants were 121 adolescents (63% male; M age = 14.10 years) with intellectual disabilities and developmental disorders who completed questionnaires on their face-to-face and cyberbullying victimization and bystanding, parental social support, subjective health complaints, suicidal ideation, and non-suicidal self-harm during the 7th grade (Time 1). In 8th grade (Time 2), they completed questionnaires on subjective health complaints, suicidal ideation, and non-suicidal self-harm. The findings revealed that the positive associations between Time 1 cyberbullying victimization and Time 2 subjective health complaints, suicidal ideation, and non-suicidal self-harm were stronger at lower levels of Time 1 parental social support, while high levels of Time 1 parental social support diminished these relationships. Similar patterns were found for Time 1 cyberbullying bystanding and Time 2 subjective health complaints. Parental social support has a buffering effect on the relationships among cyberbullying victimization, bystanding, and health outcomes among adolescents with intellectual and developmental disorders.