Beyond Bullying: Religious Coping and Community Support as Moderators of Depression in Indonesian Pesantren Students

Abstract

Bullying is associated with depressive symptoms among adolescents, but less is known about factors that may moderate this relationship in Indonesian pesantren. This study investigated whether religious coping and pesantren community support moderate the association between bullying and depressive symptoms among Indonesian students. A cross-sectional quantitative design was employed with 1,472 students in Yogyakarta and Central Java. Participants completed modified Indonesian versions of the School Bullying Victimization Scale, Brief RCOPE, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Beck Depression Inventory-II. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with interaction terms to test direct effects and moderation effects simultaneously. Bullying was positively associated with depression (β = 0.43; p < 0.001). Positive religious coping negatively moderated this relationship (β = -0.14; p < 0.01), while negative religious coping positively moderated it (β = 0.19; p < 0.001). Community support emerged as the strongest moderator among the variables examined (β = -0.21; p < 0.001). A significant three-way interaction revealed that high positive religious coping combined with high community support was associated with a non-significant bullying-depression association (β = 0.11; p = 0.12), whereas high negative religious coping combined with low support was associated with the strongest positive association (β = 0.71; p < 0.001). The model explained 42.3% of the variance in depression with good model fit (CFI = 0.96; RMSEA = 0.04). Religious coping and community support moderate the bullying-depression association in ways that may have practical implications. Findings underscore the need for culturally contextualized programs strengthening adaptive religious meaning-making and community cohesion in pesantren.