Thériault-Couture, Frédéric, Blangis, Flora, Dooley, Niamh, Fisher, Helen L, Matthews, Timothy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9955-6524, Odgers, Candice L and Arseneault, Louise (2025) Cybervictimisation and mental health conditions in young people: findings from a nationally representative longitudinal cohort. Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. ISSN 2352-4642 (Print), 2352-4650 (Online) (In Press)

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Abstract

Background
Cybervictimisation has been linked to poor mental health in young people, but doubts remain about the robustness of this association. We examined mental health outcomes for adolescents who experienced cybervictimisation using a genetically informative longitudinal design to strengthen causal inference by accounting for alternative explanations.
Methods
We used data from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative cohort of 2232 British twins born in 1994–95. At age 18, participants completed interviews assessing cybervictimisation, offline forms of victimisation, and mental health conditions. Confounders were measured prospectively from ages five to 18. Unmeasured confounders including genetic and shared environmental factors were controlled for using discordant twin analyses. People with lived experience were not involved in this study.
Findings
We found that 20·3% of young people (419 of 2063) reported being moderately or severely cybervictimised between ages 12 and 18, with 10 participants (2·4% of 419) reporting online abuse without having experienced offline victimisation. Cybervictimised adolescents were more likely to report anxiety, depression, self-harm/suicide attempt, post-traumatic stress disorder, conduct disorder, and psychotic experiences compared with those not cybervictimised. These associations remained after adjusting for confounders, including pre-existing and concurrent vulnerabilities. Offline victimisation accounted for the associations, with modest to substantial attenuation in odds ratios (17·7%–28·0% for anxiety and depression; 33·5%–52·3% for other outcomes). Cybervictimisation was uniquely associated with anxiety disorder independently of genetic and shared environmental factors and offline victimisation (OR 2·14, 95% CI 1·18–3·88).
Interpretation
Amid ongoing policy debates on digital safety and to support targeted intervention strategies, mental health responses to cybervictimisation should consider the broader context of victimisation experienced by young people.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	cybervictimisation, adolescence, young adulthood, mental health, twin study
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development > Centre for Mental Health Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development > Centre for Vulnerable Children and Families Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2025 14:06
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/51265

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