Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Bullying Victimization and Internet Addiction: The Mediating Roles of Self-Compassion and Depression

Objectives Research has shown that bullying victimization of college students may have a significant negative impact on individuals' emotional states and encourage depression and internet addiction. Self-compassion is regarded as an effective emotion regulator and may play an important mediating role in the relationship between victimization and internet addiction. The present study aimed to examine the mediating effects of self-compassion (in the form of compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding) and depression between bullying victimization and internet addiction and to explore whether there were gender differences in this mechanism. Method A total of 848 students from China completed questionnaires measuring their experiences with bullying victimization, self-compassion, depression, and internet addiction at three time points with intervals of 6 months. Results For both genders, serial mediation analysis showed that self-compassion and depression mediated the relationship between bullying victimization and internet addiction. Specifically, compassionate self-responding buffered the effect of victimization on depression, and thus inhibited the level of internet addiction, while uncompassionate self-responding played the opposite role. The same outcomes were also found in the female group. However, for males, only the compassionate self-responding mediated the relationship between bullying victimization and depression, while the effect of uncompassionate self-responding was not a significant mediator. Conclusions Our study revealed the different associations among bullying victimization, self-compassion, depression, and internet addiction in different gender groups. The findings also confirmed the protective role of compassionate self-responding and the disruptive effect of uncompassionate self-responding in the context of victimization. Preregistration This study is not preregistered.