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Purpose: Previous research points to a complex relation between social media use and mental health, with open questions remaining with respect to mediation pathways and potential sociodemographic moderators. The present research investigated the extent to which experiences of cyberbullying victimization mediate the link between greater social media use and poorer mental health in adults and whether such indirect effects are moderated by gender or age. Participants and methods: As part of a larger study, US adults (N = 502) completed an online survey that included measures of degree of social media use, cyberbullying victimization, depression, anxiety, substance use, and sociodemographic characteristics including gender and age. Results: A series of moderated mediation models revealed a robust indirect effect of cyberbullying victimization on the relation between degree of social media use and mental health, such that greater social media use was associated with higher levels of cyberbullying victimization and greater cyberbullying victimization was associated with increased depression, anxiety, and likelihood of substance use. There was no evidence that the mediation effects varied between men and women. Age did, however, moderate the mediation effects for anxiety and likelihood of substance use, with stronger mediation effects emerging for younger compared to older adults. Conclusion: Our findings underscore the importance of empirical investigations that shed a more nuanced light on the complex relation between social media and mental health. 

Due to the increased prevalence of cyberbullying and the detrimental impact it can have on adolescents, there is a critical need for tools to help combat cyberbullying. This paper introduces the ActionPoint app, a mobile application based on empirical work highlighting the importance of strong parent-teen relationships for reducing cyberbullying risk. The app is designed to help families improve their communication skills, set healthy boundaries for social media use, identify instances of cyberbullying and cyberbullying risk, and, ultimately, decrease the negative outcomes associated with cyberbullying. The app guides parents and teens through a series of interactive modules that engage them in evidence-based activities that promote better understanding of cyberbullying risks and healthy online behaviors. In this paper, we describe the app design, the psychology research supporting the design of each module, the architecture and implementation details, and crucial paths to extend the app.