The Association of Different Cyber-Victimization Types With Current Psychological and Health Status in Southern Appalachian Communities

Research on cyber-victimization has primarily focused on cyberbullying conducted in urban and suburban (metropolitan) settings. We explore a range of cyber-victimizations, including financially motivated offenses and cyberbullying, and their associations with current psychological and health status in a nonmetropolitan sample from southern Appalachia. The forms of cyber-victimization were drawn from focus groups and interviews, and then self-report data on 14 types of cyber-victimization were collected from 478 individuals (57.1% female; age M = 36.44, SD = 16.61). Approximately 3 out of 4 participants (74.7%) reported experiencing at least one cyber-victimization. Cyber-victimization made many participants feel “very upset” (average 55.7%). Many forms of cyber-victimization were associated with elevated trauma symptoms, and lower subjective well-being and health-related quality of life. Cyber-victimization is common in this southern Appalachian community, with financially motivated incidents leading to higher prevalence rates than found in many other studies. In these data, numerous specific types of victimization, including cyber-theft, fraud, and legal-but-intrusive privacy invasions, were associated with worse psychological and physical health. More research is needed on technology-mediated victimization and these types of victimization should be more routinely included in violence assessments.