Master of Arts (Counselling & Guidance)

With the introduction of the protection from harassment legislation in Singapore, cyber bullying has been placed on national agenda in the Singapore society (Ministry of Law, 2013). In existing research literature, it has been established that cyber bullying can lead to damaging consequences on mental health during adolescence. This present study is undertaken to understand adolescents’ help seeking responses towards cyber bullying in relation to their mental health. Data was gathered from 551 students aged 9 to 17 years old who were enrolled in 14 schools in Singapore. From these adolescents, 175 (31.8%) reported having been cyber victimised, of which 94 (53.7%) were males and 81 (46.3%) were females.

As depressive symptoms and social anxiety are cited as the most widely known mental health sequelae, this study aims to examine adolescents’ help seeking behaviour and responses to cyber bullying in relation to depressive symptoms and anxiety. Results indicate that sources of help seeking are negatively correlated with depressive symptoms and social anxiety among adolescents. It was also found that there was no statistical difference in depressive symptoms and social anxiety among adolescent cyber victims who sought help as compared to those who did not do so. Findings also show that cyber victims who trivialized the bullying or responded by retaliating will likely experience higher depressive symptoms. However, this was not the same for social anxiety. Furthermore, for cyber victims who seek peer support, they tended to experience higher depressive symptoms and social anxiety. These findings suggest that parents, educators and counsellors need to encourage effective help seeking methods and responses to buffer negative mental health effects among adolescents. Overall, these results signify that adolescent cyber victimisation, help seeking behaviour and responses deserve future empirical attention.