# The relationship between parental psychological control, cyberbullying victimization, and nonsuicidal self-injury among boarding school adolescents

## TL;DR

This study explores how parental control and cyberbullying may contribute to self-harm behaviors in boarding school teens.

## Contribution

The study identifies cyberbullying victimization as a mediator between parental control and nonsuicidal self-injury in boarding school adolescents.

## Key findings

- Parental psychological control is positively correlated with nonsuicidal self-injury in boarding school adolescents.
- Cyberbullying victimization mediates the relationship between parental control and self-injury.
- The combined effect of family and cyber stress factors contributes to self-injury behaviors.

## Abstract

This study aims to investigate the relationship between parental psychological control and nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescents in boarding schools and to examine the mediating role of cyberbullying victimization in this relationship.

This study included 378 adolescents from boarding schools and utilized the Parental Psychological Control Scale, the Cyberbullying Victimization Scale, and the Nonsuicidal Self-injury Scale.

Parental psychological control was significantly positively correlated with nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescents in boarding schools. Cyberbullying victimization mediated the relationship between parental psychological control and nonsuicidal self-injury (indirect effect = 0.017, SE = 0.008 [95% CI = 0.003, 0.034]).

This finding highlights that nonsuicidal self-injury among adolescents in boarding schools results from the combined effect of distal family factors (e.g., parental psychological control) and proximal cyber stress (e.g., cyberbullying victimization), providing a reference for future targeted interventions.