ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
The effect of cyberbullying perpetration on depression in adolescents in western China :the mediating roles of self control and Internet gaming addiction and the moderating role of meaning in life
juan Jing
Jiaming Luo
xin hou
North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract
Background This study amid to explore the relationship between cyberbullying perpetration and depression among adolescents in a western city of China. And verify the mediating role of self-control and Internet gaming addiction and the moderating role of meaning in life. Methods A total of 8209 adolescents were recruited through random sampling and cluster random sampling. Analyze the correlations among cyberbullying perpetration, self-control, Internet gaming addiction, meaning in life and depression. Mediation analyses were conducted to assess direct and indirect effects of cyberbullying perpetration on depression via self-control and Internet gaming addiction. Moderation analysis examined the direction of the moderating effect of meaning in life on the relationship between cyberbullying perpetration and self-control. Results (1)There was a significant correlation between cyberbullying perpetration, self-control, Internet gaming addiction, meaning in life and depression. (2) self-control and Internet gaming addiction 2 played a significant partial mediating role in the relationship between cyberbullying perpetration and depression. The mediating effect consists of three indirect effects: Cyberbullying perpetration → self-control →depression(the mediating effect value is 0.159, p <0.001), Cyberbullying perpetration→Internet gaming addiction →depression (the mediating effect value is 0.18,p < 0.001), and Cyberbullying perpetration→self-control →Internet gaming addiction →depression (the mediating effect value is 0.029, p <0.001). (3) The interaction between cyberbullying perpetration and self-control was significant(β=-0.023,95%CI -0.03—-0.015,P<0.01).Meaning in life plays a moderating role between cyberbullying perpetration and self-control.The stronger the meaning in life, the more obvious the negative effect of cyberbullying perpetration on self-control. Conclusion (1)The research results indicate that cyberbullying perpetration is associated with higher symptoms of depression in adolescents. This association can occur directly or indirectly through reduced self-control and increased addiction to Internet gaming. (2)Adolescents with a stronger sense of meaning in life show a more pronounced decline in self-control after engaging in cyberbullying.
Summary
Keywords
Cyberbullying perpetration, Depression, Internet gaming addiction, meaning in life, Self-Control
Received
19 November 2025
Accepted
19 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Jing, Luo and hou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Jiaming Luo
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.