Table of contentsIntroductionMethodSelection criteriaData analysisResultRelational victimization and self-conceptSelf-concept and depressive symptomsDiscussionConclusionIntroductionIt was reported that in 2017, 1 adolescent 6 in 6 Malaysians are victims of bullying (National Health and Morbidity Survey). , 2017). Bullying was defined as being the target of "bad and unpleasant" actions, such as "being teased a lot in a nasty way" or being "intentionally left out of things." This sounds the alarm about the current conditions of our adolescents. Another statistic revealed that the prevalence of mental health problems among Malaysian adults was reported to have reached 29% in 2020 (Guan, 2014) and this number is higher among young adults (National Health and Morbidity Survey, 2015 ). Given these two worrying statistics, it's surprising how they might be related—that is, how likely it would be that the teenage victim would have mental health issues as an adult.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay There are different forms of peer victimization (a term used to refer to being bullied by peers), such as overt victimization and relational victimization. Overt victimization is defined as bullying of a verbal or physical nature, such as harsh words and hitting others (Casper and Card, 2016). Relational victimization refers to a situation in which individuals are treated in a relationally aggressive manner, such as being abandoned, being the target of gossip and rumors as well as threatened by peers or significant others. Forms of peer victimization are typically studied together and are linked to psychosocial maladjustments (Kawabata, Tseng, & Crick, 2014). It was also revealed that this effect may depend on the type of victimization and that relational victimization, but not overt victimization, could be a predictor of depressive symptoms (Bauman, 2008; Cooley, Fitey, Rubens, & Tunno, 2014). There was a significant correlation between relational victimization and depression among African American women aged 18 and older, with 2 of the participants reporting possible suicidal ideation. According to Zimmer-Gembeck, Trevaskis, Nesdale, and Downey (2014), relational victimization has a significant direct effect and a significant indirect effect (when mediated by rejection sensitivity) on depressive symptoms, whereas overt victimization does not. As Zimmer-Gembeck, Trevaskis, Nesdale, and Downey (2014) indicate, those experiencing relational victimization may feel more victimized by gossip, excluded from the social circle, and other relational victimization behaviors, thus explaining the significant association between relational victimization behaviors. victimization and depressive symptoms. A study by Dempsey and Storch (2008) found that young adults who recalled experiencing relational victimization as adolescents were more likely to report greater depressive symptoms. Thus, it can be said that the aftereffects of adolescent relational victimization do not only persist into the adolescent period and appear to have prolonged or made victims more vulnerable to depression as they reach adulthood. Some studies have demonstrated the buffering effect of genetic vulnerability (Benjet, Thompson & Gotlib, 2010) and emotional support from the father (Desjardins& Leadbeater, 2011) on the effect of peer victimization during adolescence or childhood. This suggests that depression due to prior peer victimization may be moderate. However, little research has been conducted to explore moderating factors related to the self, such as self-concept. Self-concept can refer to how individuals perceive themselves and can be viewed as an overall aspect or divided into domains of self-concept (Strein, 1995). Whether defined as an overall aspect of the self or divided into domains, positive self-concept has been linked to positive adjustment to life events. For example, a positive self-image has been linked to job performance (Judge, Erez, & Bono, 1998) and more specifically, an academic self-image has been associated with academic achievement (Marsh, Trautwein, Lüdtke, Köller, & Baumert , 2005). . In contrast, negative self-concept leads to higher depressive symptoms (Tarlow & Haaga, 1996). Peer victimization as well as self-concept have been studied in relation to a person's mental health. In a study by Grills and Ollendick (2002), peer victimization was correlated with anxiety in sixth graders, with self-esteem being the moderating factor in males and self-esteem being the moderating factor. mediator in women. Apart from this, specifically, relational victimization was significantly correlated with negative self-evaluation and negative self-evaluation was significantly associated with depression in three-wave data from a longitudinal study with Afro adolescents -urban Americans (Taylor, Sullivan and Kliewer, 2013). This suggests that self-image may be a predictor of depression in adolescents. However, the influence of self-concept in young adulthood may be different, as self-concept is said to be stabilized in early adulthood due to the roles assumed during this phase (Demo, 1992). Therefore, self-concept may have more influence in adulthood to guard against psychological distress such as depressive symptoms. Thus, the present review aims to study the relationship between relational victimization in adolescence, depressive symptoms and the role of self-concept during the young adult period. The Google Scholar method was chosen as the search engine and the articles were screened from five databases such as Cambridge Core, Wiley Online Library, Elsevier, American Psychological Association and Springer. The main keywords entered into the databases were relational victimization, depressive symptoms, self-concept, young adults, young adulthood, adolescents and adolescence. Keywords were chosen and entered based on the relationship between adolescent relational victimization and young adult self-concept, adolescent relational victimization and depressive symptoms in young adults and young adults. self-image and depressive symptoms in young adults. Selection criteria There were inclusion and exclusion criteria as standards for eliminating journal articles and these criteria were chosen and continued to change as new steps were taken during the selection process. The final inclusion criteria were as follows: English language Peer-reviewed journal articles Year 2013 and above Refer to relational victimization during the adolescent period Refer to depression or depressive symptoms in young adulthood; Refer to the self-concept in young adults; 2013. This is not a peer-reviewed journal article. Does not refer to the young adult population for theself-concept and depressive symptoms. Does not refer to the adolescent period for relational victimization. Articles were selected based on the relationship between the variables intended to be studied at that time. For example, if the relationship between relational victimization and depressive symptoms was being examined, the self-concept variable did not necessarily have to appear in the article chosen for examination. In terms of self-concept, articles were chosen not only if they referred to self-concept as a variable, but self-esteem or other aspects describing certain aspects of self-concept were also analyzed in this review. Data Analysis Although all selected articles provided quantitative results, meta-analysis was not used as a method to conduct this literature review. The reason is that studies use different measurement tools to measure the variables chosen in this review. Thus, a qualitative synthesis was used in this literature review. Out of 84,306 records identified from the databases, only six articles were chosen in the final screening. The reason for the limited number of articles in the final selection is that the chosen articles meet specific criteria on the type of victimization, the type of mental health problem as well as the target population that this review aims to explore.ResultRelational victimization and depressive symptomsLeadbeater, Thompson, and Sukhawathanakul (2014) conducted an eight-year longitudinal study of the frequency of peer victimization and the level of depressive and anxiety symptoms from adolescence through young adulthood. With a gap of two years over five phases, 459 participants aged 12 to 18 years (at the time of initial identification) joined the study. Their ages ranged between 20 and 27 years during the final phase of the study. Participants responded to physical victimization and relational victimization items in the Social Experiences Questionnaire and to depressive and anxiety symptoms in the brief child and family telephone interview across five phases. In terms of the association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms, the analysis of the results showed that relational victimization is positively correlated with depressive symptoms simultaneously in each phase for both sexes. Prospectively, relational victimization in the first phase was positively correlated with depressive symptoms in the second, third, and fourth phases for both sexes. Thus, from the study, it can be said that the effects of relational victimization on depressive symptoms not only persist during the victims' adolescence period, but can last until they reach adulthood . Relational Victimization and Self-ConceptHager and Leadbeater (2015) investigated a 10-year longitudinal study on the influence of relational and physical victimization on physical health and physical self-concept throughout the adolescent period through 'at the start of adulthood. 662 participants were recruited and the sample was aged 12 to 29 over a 10-year period. Participants were surveyed in six phases on the Social Experiences Questionnaire (for peer victimization), the Health Behavior Scale in School-Aged Children (for physical symptoms), the of satisfaction of body areas, the self-image questionnaire for young adolescents and an item to assess perception. on physical health in general (for physical self-concept). Data analysis revealed that the concurrent relationship between victimizationrelational and physical self-concept were negatively correlated for the first and second phases. There were also negative correlations between youth experiencing relational victimization during the first phase and physical self-concept between the second and fourth phases, and between relational victimization during the third phase and physical self-concept in the fourth and sixth phases. Therefore, it can be interpreted that victims of relational victimization in adolescence may have poorer self-concept as they reach adulthood. Additionally, a study by Kopala-Sibley, Zuroff, Leybman, and Hope (2013) was conducted to explore the relationship between peer-recalled experiences during adolescence (overt, relational victimization and prosocial behaviors received from others) and self-criticism during young adulthood, an aspect linked to self-concept. 200 young adult participants aged 18 to 25 completed questionnaires on the Self-Criticism Scale (measure of self-criticism), the Social Experiences Questionnaire (measure of peer victimization and received prosocial behaviors), and the parental bond inventory (measurement of parental care during adolescence). ). Analysis of the results suggests that there is a significant positive correlation between recalled experiences of relational victimization and the level of inadequate self-criticism during the young adult period. Thus, it can be said that the experience of relational victimization during adolescence can cause young adults to perceive themselves as inadequate or inferior to others. Self-Concept and Depressive Symptoms A 4-year longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the relationship between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms, with racial self-concept as a mediator in a sample of 222 individuals transitioning to young adulthood. (Kogan, Yu, Allen & Brody, 2014). Participants were 16 years old when they first joined the study and 20 years old when data collection ended. Respondents completed a Hostility Scale measure, a Delinquent Behavior Checklist, and a Checklist of 15 Antisocial Peer Behaviors at the first phase (age 16). Respondents also completed an adapted racial microstress scale from research (Williams and Williams-Morris 2000) to measure racial discrimination from ages one to three (age 18), items adapted based on feedback from the focus group and the Multidimensional Black Identity Inventory. on the first and fourth phases (19 years) to measure racial self-concept, items developed by Humprey (1982) (cited in Kogan, Yu, Allen & Brody, 2014) on the first to third phases to measure mastery Self and Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale from the first to the fifth phase (20 years) to measure depressive symptoms. Analysis of the results showed that a high level of racial discrimination between the ages of 16 and 18 significantly led to a low level of racial self-image, thereby leading to a high level of depressive symptoms at the age of 20 years. It can therefore be said that self-concept, when influenced by negative experiences during adolescence, can in turn affect depressive symptoms in young adulthood. Additionally, Rieger, Göllner, Trautwein, and Roberts (2016) conducted a longitudinal replication study to investigate three theoretical models of self-esteem, an aspect of self-concept with depression in 2512 young adults aged 21–25 years. The theoretical models tested are vulnerability (low self-esteem affects depression), scar (depression affects.