Online victimisation and stress among high school students: prevalence and relationships

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of online victimisation, the prevalence of stress among high school students, and the mediating role of avoidance coping in the online victimisation-stress relationship. A cross-sectional study utilising 507 high school students was conducted employing a convenience sampling method. The survey comprised questions related to online victimisation, avoidant coping, stress, and socio-demographics. Research results showed that the prevalence of online victimisation and stress among high school students were 59.2% and 40.8%, respectively. Online victimisation directly increased stress levels among students (beta = 0.213, p < 0.001). Avoidant coping mediated the online victimisation-stress relationship (beta = 0.383, 95% CI = [0.276; 0.509]). The findings of this study are a practical basis for proposing intervention measures to reduce stress for high school students in the study area.