Steadfast Students: How Resilience Buffers the Relationship Between Victimization and Negative Mental Health Outcomes

Bullying, also known as victimization, affects 2 of 5 Canadian youths on a monthly basis (Statistics Canada, 2023), and has been associated with a variety of negative outcomes, such as the exacerbation of symptoms of depression and anxiety (Kasturiratna et al., 2024). Resilience, on the other hand, has been found to be a protective factor against the development of these negative outcomes across various contexts (Ji, 2024; Shahidi et al., 2024; Türk, 2024). Research is unclear regarding how resilience can act as a buffer against developing symptoms of depression and anxiety following bullying victimization in Canadian university students. It was hypothesized that resilience would moderate the relationship between past victimization and symptoms of depression and anxiety, such that higher resilience would be associated with fewer symptoms. Moderation analyses were conducted on a sample of 393 students with a mean age of 19.99 years. Results and implications for practice are discussed.