The severity of bullying messages predicts increased levels of targets’ depression and general anxiety as a function of targets’ inferences of a bully’s goals

Being the recipient of severe bullying messages for a period of time is a meaningful predictor of subsequent mental health issues. Employing Goal Understanding Theory, we test an explanation for this association. Specifically, we hypothesize and generally confirm that targets’ adverse emotional reaction and hurt from bullying messages serially mediate the positive association between message severity and depression and general anxiety, depending on the goal understanding of targets (i.e., inferences of upward-mobility, personal-attack, and highlight-differences goals motivating a bully). That is, the mediation of message severity on mental health via emotional reaction and then hurt is present at high (not low) levels of goal inferences. Implications of the communicative processes connecting severe bullying with mental health are discussed.