Bullying Behaviors and Psychosocial Adjustment Among School-Aged Children in China

Peer bullying tendencies of school children: The role of demographic, health-related, and school-related factors

BACKGROUND

Peer bullying is widely observed across the world and continues to grow. Peer-bullying children and children exposed to peer bullying often display a fall in academic achievements, an increase in psychiatric problems, and problematic relationships with their parents.

OBJECTIVE

This study was conducted to identify the effects of demographic, health-related, and school-related characteristics in school-age children, including their grade, academic success, and status of liking their school, on their peer-bullying tendencies.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This study was carried out as a cross-sectional study. The study was conducted in September-November 2023 with sixth- and seventh-grade students at four middle schools in Turkey. The sample size was calculated as 750 in a 95% confidence interval and with a 5% margin of error. The data were collected using a Health-Related Descriptive Characteristics Form and the Swearer Bullying Scale.

RESULTS

Children who were seventh-grade students, those who had a family income above expenses, those who were obese, those who perceived their health status as good, those who had low academic achievement, and those who stated that they did not like their school had higher peer bullying tendencies (p < 0.05). In the multiple linear regression analysis, self-perceived health status, grade level, and academic achievement status were identified as factors that significantly affected the peer bullying tendencies of the children, and these factors explained 26.3% of the total variance in these tendencies.

CONCLUSION

Self-perceived health status, grade level, and academic achievement status significantly affected the peer bullying tendencies of school children.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

To prevent peer bullying and mitigate its negative effects, it is extremely important that school nurses periodically identify the peer bullying tendencies of school children and associated factors.

The Relationship Between Family Functioning and Defending Behaviors Among Junior High School Students: The Mediating Effect of Empathy and Moderating Effect of Gender

Bystanders play a role in school bullying; more specifically, the defending behaviors of bystanders play an important role in stopping bullying. This study explores the relationship between defending behaviors and family functioning in the context of school bullying from a family perspective. The role played by individual characteristics (empathy and gender) in this relationship was also focused on. The participants were 994 adolescents (average age = 13.34 ± 0.92 years) from the east of China. They completed the McMaster Family Assessment Device, the Basic Empathy Scale, and the Defending Behaviors subscale of the Participant Role Questionnaire. After controlling for residence and age, we found that family functioning significantly and positively influenced defending behaviors, and cognitive empathy rather than affective empathy mediated the relationship between family functioning and defending behaviors. In addition, family functioning influenced defending behaviors in boys more strongly than in girls. This study may increase the likelihood that bystanders will engage in defending behaviors by informing interventions for school bullying.

Decoding the effects of varied peer victimization forms on depression and anxiety among Chinese adolescents: An exploration through latent transition analysis

This study aims to examine co-occurrence patterns of depression and anxiety among Chinese adolescents and their associations with various forms of peer victimization. We collected longitudinal data from 1005 middle school students using the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Then we conducted latent profile analysis, latent transition analysis, and logistic regression analysis. The results reveal the presence of three depression-anxiety profiles among participants: low depression-anxiety group, moderate depression-anxiety group, and high depression-anxiety group. As verbal and relational victimization increase, adolescents are more likely to transition to a higher level of depression-anxiety profile. However, an increase in physical and property victimization predicts a transition to a lower level of depression-anxiety profile. The diverse effects resulting from different forms of victimization exhibit gender differences. For boys, an increase in relational victimization made participants in the moderate depression-anxiety group more likely to transition to the high depression-anxiety group, whereas this effect was not significant among girls. This study is theoretically significant for understanding the link between depression, anxiety, and their influencing factors. It suggests that educators, while addressing verbal and relational harm in adolescents, should reconsider the potential impact of physical and property harm. Opportunities to transform negative events into positive ones should be explored. Educators should tailor their focus based on gender, with a particular emphasis on addressing relational harm among male students. This underscores the need for differentiated approaches to effectively support students.

Predicting Risk of Bullying Victimization among Primary and Secondary School Students: Based on a Machine Learning Model

School bullying among primary and secondary school students has received increasing attention, and identifying relevant factors is a crucial way to reduce the risk of bullying victimization. Machine learning methods can help researchers predict and identify individual risk behaviors. Through a machine learning approach (i.e., the gradient boosting decision tree model, GBDT), the present longitudinal study aims to systematically examine individual, family, and school environment factors that can predict the risk of bullying victimization among primary and secondary school students a year later. A total of 2767 participants (2065 secondary school students, 702 primary school students, 55.20% female students, mean age at T1 was 12.22) completed measures of 24 predictors at the first wave, including individual factors (e.g., self-control, gender, grade), family factors (family cohesion, parental control, parenting style), peer factor (peer relationship), and school factors (teacher-student relationship, learning capacity). A year later (i.e., T2), they completed the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire. The GBDT model predicted whether primary and secondary school students would be exposed to school bullying after one year by training a series of base learners and outputting the importance ranking of predictors. The GBDT model performed well. The GBDT model yielded the top 6 predictors: teacher-student relationship, peer relationship, family cohesion, negative affect, anxiety, and denying parenting style. The protective factors (i.e., teacher-student relationship, peer relationship, and family cohesion) and risk factors (i.e., negative affect, anxiety, and denying parenting style) associated with the risk of bullying victimization a year later among primary and secondary school students are identified by using a machine learning approach. The GBDT model can be used as a tool to predict the future risk of bullying victimization for children and adolescents and to help improve the effectiveness of school bullying interventions.

An Analysis of the Association between School Bullying Prevention and Control Measures and Secondary School Students' Bullying Behavior in Jiangsu Province

(1) Background: China released regulations on school bullying prevention and control in 2017; however, current research on school bullying in China focuses on exploring influencing factors and lacks empirical research on the effectiveness of anti-bullying policies in schools. The objective of this study was to use an empirical model to explore the association between bullying prevention and control measures and secondary school students' bullying victimization and multiple bullying victimization in Chinese schools. (2) Methods: Data were derived from the 2019 Surveillance of Common Diseases and Health Influencing Factors among Students in Jiangsu Province. The school's bullying prevention and control measures, which was the independent variable, were obtained in the form of a self-report questionnaire and consisted of five measures: the establishment of bullying governance committees, thematic education for students, thematic training for parents, special investigations on bullying, and a bullying disposal process. Bullying victimization and multiple bullying victimization, which was the dependent variable, were obtained through a modified version of the Olweus bullying victimization questionnaire. In order to better explain the differences in the results, this study constructed multilevel logistic regression models to test the association between school bullying prevention and control measures and the rates of bullying victimization and multiple bullying victimization among secondary school students at both the school level and the student level. Meanwhile, this study constructed five models based on the null model by sequentially incorporating demographic variables, physical and mental health variables, lifestyle variables, and bullying prevention and control measures in schools to verify this association. (3) Results: A total of 25,739 students were included in the analysis. The range of bullying victimization rates for students in the different secondary schools in this study was between 6.8% and 37.3%, and the range of multiple bullying victimization rates was between 0.9% and 14.8%. The establishment of bullying disposal procedures was strongly associated with a reduction in bullying victimization (OR = 0.83, 95%CI: 0.71-0.99, p < 0.05). Establishing bullying disposal procedures was not significantly associated with multiple bullying victimization rates (OR = 0.89, 95%CI: 0.73-1.09, p > 0.05). The establishment of a bullying governance committee, thematic education for students, thematic training for parents, and special surveys on bullying were not significantly associated with bullying victimization rates or multiple bullying victimization rates (all p > 0.05). (4) Conclusions: Among the current bullying prevention and control measures for secondary school students in China, the establishment of a bullying disposal process was conducive to reducing the rate of bullying victimization, but it was ineffective in reducing the rate of multiple bullying victimization, and the other preventive and control measures did not achieve the purpose of anti-bullying in schools.

Longitudinal correlates of bullying victimization among Chinese early adolescents: A cross-lagged panel network analysis

BACKGROUND

Bullying victimization is a major public health issue often faced by adolescents. This highlights the need to identify the relevant risk factors to inform intervention. Based on the ecological systems theory and applied cross-lagged panel network analysis, this study explored the longitudinal correlates of bullying victimization among Chinese early adolescents.

METHODS

A total of 1686 early adolescents (60.4 % were boys) from the Chinese Early Adolescent Cohort study were included in this study. Bullying victimization and its associated factors were assessed using the self-report questionnaires, which was administered from 2019 (T1), 2021 (T2), and 2022 (T3). The longitudinal relationships between bullying victimization and its correlates were examined using a cross-lagged panel network analysis.

RESULTS

27.0 %, 14.9 %, and 13.2 % of the participants reported being bullied by peers at T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The temporal network suggested that individual-level (sex, depression, and anxiety), family-level (child abuse), school-level (satisfaction with classmates), and social-level (satisfaction with society) factors were associated with bullying victimization. The node with the greatest centrality strength was anxiety. Notably, relationship with teachers and classmates were the unique nodes in the T2 → T3 replication network.

LIMITATIONS

The sample is unrepresentative, as it is from only one middle school.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide important insights into bullying victimization prevention and intervention among Chinese early adolescents: 1) highlighting the importance of joint interventions across multiple departments; 2) focusing on the most central factors of bullying victimization; and 3) considering the effect of time when exploring the correlates of bullying victimization.

Pattern of lifestyle behaviors and associated risk of being bullied at schools: A latent class analysis of 25,379 adolescents in Jiangsu Province of China

School bullying is a worldwide problem. Although previous studies examined the association between different lifestyle behaviors and bullying victimization, the complex co-occurrence of these behaviors was not identified, and their association with the risk of being bullied remains unclear. We aimed to identify the behavioral patterns of adolescents and to explore their association with bullying victimization. This cross-sectional study employed data from the "Surveillance for Common Diseases and Health Risk Factors among Students" project implemented in Jiangsu Province of China in 2019, and a total of 25,379 school-enrolled students were included. We used a latent class analysis to identify behavioral patterns and a regression mixture model to explore various demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, and family structure in relation to bullying victimization across different patterns. We considered respondents having targeted behaviors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, sugar consumption, no fruit consumption, low physical activity, electronic media use, and insufficient sleep. Four behavioral patterns were identified, including the "adolescents without apparent targeted behaviors" (19.65%), "substance and electronic media users" (12.76%), "typical electronic media users" (54.49%), and "typical substance users" (8.10%). The risk of being bullied was the highest in the "substance and electronic media users" (probability: 0.33), tripled that in "adolescents without apparent targeted behaviors" (odds ratio: 3.60, 95% confidence interval: 3.01-4.30). Risk of being bullied was reduced for those "substance and electronic media users" living with a nuclear family. Behavioral patterns and their association with being bullied differ between groups of school-aged adolescents. To better inform decision-making based on the current real-world findings, the implementation of bullying prevention programs could target specific behavioral patterns.

School Bullying Victimization and Associated Factors Among School-Aged Adolescents in China

There has been a significant amount of research on correlates of bullying victimization, but most prior studies are descriptive and do not distinguish between different types of bullying. The current study used a case-control study design to explore factors related to different types of bullying victimization, including physical, relational, verbal, sexual, property, and poly-bullying victimization. This study was conducted in a southern city in China, including 3054 cases who self-reported being victims of school bullying and 3054 controls who reported not being involved in any school bullying in the past 12 months. Each victim case was matched with a control on gender, school, and grade level. Univariate logistic analyses and multivariate conditional logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with being a victim of school bullying. Results suggest physical bullying victimization was only associated with a family-level characteristic (parenting style) while the other four types of bullying victimization (relational, verbal, sexual, and property bullying) and poly-bullying victimization were associated with multiple social domain variables at individual, family, and school levels. Findings from this study provide evidence of factors for different types of bullying victimization and have implications for potential measures to prevent bullying. Measures from multiple social domains, including individual, family and school (e.g., developing healthy behaviors, improving social skills, positive parent-child interactions, building trust between teachers and peers, and forming strong friendships), should be considered in order to effectively prevent adolescent victimization from bullying.

School bullying among Chinese third to fifth grade primary school students in a cross-sectional study: The protective effect of psychological resilience

School bullying is a major concern for school-aged youth and has great impacts on children's health and well-being, and an increasing number of school bullying cases have been reported in China. Many studies have indicated that psychological resilience may have a well-established association with school bullying. However, only a limited number of studies have explored this association, especially among primary school students. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between school bullying and psychological resilience among primary school students from a Chinese city. The participants were 6,011 primary school students aged 7-14 years who were recruited in a cross-sectional survey in Luzhou, China. The statistical significance of differences between groups was tested using the χ2 test or t test. Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the association between psychological resilience and school bullying. The incidence rates of bullies and victims were 30.00% (1803/6011; 95% CI: 28.84%-31.16%) and 69.89% (4201/6011; 95% CI: 68.73%-71.05%), respectively. Psychological resilience was a protective factor of school bullying among primary school students (for bullying perpetrators, OR = 0.76, 95%CI:0.62-0.93, and for bully victims OR = 0.74, 95%CI:0.61-0.90), especially among female students (for bullying perpetrators, OR = 0.63, 95%CI: 0.47-0.85, and for bully victims, OR = 0.69, 95%CI: 0.53-0.90). School bullying among primary school students in Luzhou City was highly prevalent. High levels of psychological resilience might be a protective factor in preventing primary students from being involved in school bullying, especially among females.

Bullying and other risk factors related to adolescent suicidal behaviours in the Philippines: a look into the 2011 GSHS Survey

BACKGROUNDS

The present study retrospectively examined gender differences in bullying and suicidal behaviour (ideation, plan, and attempts) as well as associations between selected risk factors and suicidal behaviour among secondary school Filipino students.

METHODS

The study used a secondary data set from the GSHS developed by the World Health Organization, which was conducted in the Philippines in 2011. Participants included 5290 Filipino students (male N = 2279, female N = 2986). A two-tailed Chi-square of independence was used to test for gender differences and a multivariate logistic regression model explored statistical associations between risk factors and outcome variables.

RESULTS

Chi-square results suggested that gender differences were statistically significant for being bullied χ2 (1, N = 2384) = 10.6, p = .001, experiencing suicidal ideation χ2 (1, N = 857) = 61.7, p = .000, making suicide plans χ2 (1, N = 590) = 10.2, p = .001, and suicide attempts χ2 (1, N = 674) = 8.4, p = .004, with females showing higher vulnerability to examined risk factors. The logistic regression model also suggested that adolescents claiming to have no close friends were three to four times more likely to attempt suicide. Other strong predictors of suicidal behaviours were loneliness and getting in trouble due to alcohol consumption.

CONCLUSIONS

Bullying is an independent yet, not the strongest predictor associated with adolescents' suicidal behaviour in the present study. The strongest predictors of Filipino adolescents' suicidal behaviours in the 2011 cohort included having no close friends, loneliness, anxiety and getting in trouble due to alcohol use among both genders. Peer and mental health support programmes need to be made available and accessible for adolescents in the Philippines. Considering the increase in suicide rates in 2020/2021 among Filipino young adults due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it is suggested that preventing suicidal vulnerability in adolescence can hinder this occurrence later on in the lifetime.

Relationship between school bullying and mental health status of adolescent students in China: A nationwide cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION

School bullying, as a public health problem, has been linked to many emotional disorders. However, the overall status of school bullying among adolescent students in China is unknown. This nationwide study aimed to investigate school bullying in China and evaluate the relationships between school bullying and mental health status.

METHODS

A total of 15, 415 middle and high school students were enrolled in this study through multistage stratified cluster random sampling. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine the association between school bullying and mental health status and the analysis was stratified by gender.

RESULTS

Students were divided into four groups: 2.72%, bully/victims; 1.38%, bullies; 10.89%, victims; 85.01%, uninvolved. Compared with uninvolved students, students with anxiety symptoms, non-suicidal self-injury and suicide ideation had a higher risk of being involved in school bullying and were more likely to be bully/victims, bullies, and victims. Stratified analysis indicated that boys with anxiety symptoms and non-suicidal self-injury risks tended to be bullies, victims and bully/victims. However, for girls, bullying others or being bullied was related to anxiety symptoms and suicide ideation.

CONCLUSION

Our study indicated that school bullying is still a health problem in the adolescent students of China, and is related to many mental health problems. Intervention programs are in urgent need to help the students involved in school bullying, both in terms of their mental and physical health.

Left-Behind Status and Bullying in Chinese Rural Children: The Roles of Parental Supervision and Support and Friends in Puppy Love

Bullying behaviors, as exhibited by left-behind children (LBC) in China, occur commonly. Parental supervision and support, as well as friendship networks, have previously been verified as crucial aspects in determining the bullying behaviors of LBC. However, evidence of the interactive effect of these vital factors is sparse, and puppy love, which is inevitable among school-age children, is seldom investigated. The current study aimed to examine the roles of parental supervision and support as well as peers in puppy love in LBC bullying behaviors by means of a moderated mediation model. The data were derived from 28 counties/districts across China. We used data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) of 3,252 junior high school students. A moderated mediation model was conducted by PROCESS procedure in Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) and the bootstrapping method was performed for inference test. The moderated mediation analysis showed that left-behind status was associated with bullying behaviors displayed by school-age students. Parental supervision and support mediated this association; furthermore, the mediation effects were dependent on the number of friends in puppy love. In particular, as the number of friends in puppy love increased, the mediating effect of parental supervision weakened, whereas the mediating effect of parental support became stronger. These results revealed the importance of parental support and supervision and peers in puppy love in shaping bullying behaviors among LBC. Future bullying prevention and intervention should promote parental supervision and support among LBC in rural China, especially those with many friends in puppy love.

Effect of Social Exclusion on Social Maladjustment Among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model of Group Identification and Parent-Child Cohesion

Social exclusion is a covert and widespread social behavior. Different from previous studies on the role of internal and social functions in the relationship between social exclusion and maladjustment, the study aims to explore the influence of individual interaction on the individual-group relationship as well as the impact of relationship changes on adolescent social maladjustment. Based on an integration of social information processing theory and social identification theory, we analyzed the association between social exclusion and adolescents' social maladjustment, especially the mediating role of group identification and the moderating role of parent-child cohesion. Participants were 1,506 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 16.18 years, SD = 0.81). The results demonstrated that the association between social exclusion and adolescent social maladjustment was partly mediated by group identification. Parent-child cohesion was found to moderate the direct effect and first half of mediating path after splitting gender variable. Our findings expand the extant insights on how social exclusion could contribute to adolescent social maladjustment and highlight the important role of father in later adolescence development.

Prevalence and associated factors of school bullying among Chinese college students in Changsha, China

BACKGROUND

School bullying has attracted worldwide attention for its adverse outcomes; however, there is still a lack of research among college students. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of school bullying victimization and the associated factors among Chinese college students.

METHODS

8098 Chinese college students from two universities in Hunan province were recruited in this cross-sectional study, and data on participants' demographic information, bullying history, suicidal behaviors, anxiety (Self-Rating Anxiety Scale) and depression (Self-reporting Depression Scale) were collected. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze the independent correlates of school bullying.

RESULTS

The prevalence of school bullying was 8.03% in our study. Gender (OR,0.792;95%CI[0.660,0.950]; p = 0.012); depression (OR,1.979; 95%CI[1.359,2.883]; p < 0.001); anxiety (OR,1.996; 95%CI[1.388, 2.869]; p < 0.001); suicidal ideation (OR,1.353;95%CI[1.087,1.684]; p = 0.007); suicide attempts (OR,1.772;95%CI[1.306,2.403]; p < 0.001); family income between 30,000 and 70,000/year (yuan) (OR,0.763;95% CI[0.627,0.929]; p = 0.007) and family income more than 70,000/year (yuan) (OR,0.578;95%CI[0.461,0.725]; p < 0.001) were independent correlates of school bullying. The bullying score was positively correlated with physical or mental disorder history, family history of mental disorder, suicidal ideation, suicide plans, suicide attempts, anxiety, depression, smoking and drinking alcohol (all p < 0.05), and negatively correlated with right-handedness, good relationship with parents and family income (all p < 0.05).

LIMITATIONS

No causal relationship could be drawn due to the cross-sectional design.

CONCLUSION

School bullying is quite common among college students. In order to improve students' mental health and prevent suicide, we should pay attention to the negative effects of bullying victimization such as depression, anxiety, suicidal behaviors and so on, apart from putting in place anti-bullying interventions.

School Bullying-The Silent Epidemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Factors Associated With Peer Victimization Among Lebanese Adolescents

The objective of this study was to evaluate bullying at school and identify the factors associated with it among a sample of Lebanese school adolescents. A cross-sectional study was carried out between April 2014 and June 2014, using a convenient sampling of Lebanese students in private schools from Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The results showed that 712 (18.1%) adolescents had been bullied in the past 2 months (95% CI [0.169, 0.192]). A backward logistic regression, taking "being bullied in the last 2 months" as a dependent variable, showed significantly lower odds of being bullied in the last 2 months in those who find it easy (adjusted odds ratios [aOR] = 0.434) and very easy (aOR = 0.391) to talk to their father, and having some close male or female friends compared with none. Furthermore, significantly higher odds of being bullied were found among males compared with females (aOR = 0.664), having a best friend who smokes sometimes compared with never (aOR = 1.389), and a father who drinks everyday compared with never (aOR = 1.621). This study was able to shed light on a problem that sometimes goes silent in schools and has a negative impact on the mental health of teenagers. Indeed, the results of our study showed that peer victimization was closely linked to clinically relevant mental health issues. In addition, factors such as parental and peer support could protect against the negative effects of bullying.

Adolescent Empathy Influences Bystander Defending in School Bullying: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Even though numerous studies have shown that adolescent empathy is positively related to bystander defending in school bullying, others have failed to detect a significant association between these two variables. To address this discrepancy, a three-level meta-analysis of 27 papers (35 independent studies, N = 25,012 adolescents) was conducted. The results showed that empathy was positively correlated with bystander defending. Furthermore, the strength of the relationship between empathy and bystander defending was moderated by the type of empathy and the evaluators of defending. Specifically, the correlation coefficient between affective empathy and bystander defending (r = 0.27, 95% CI [0.22, 0.32]) was significantly stronger than that between cognitive empathy and bystander defending (r = 0.22, 95% CI [0.17, 0.28]). Finally, the strength of the relationship between empathy and bystander defending was moderated by the evaluator of defending behavior. That is, the correlation coefficient of bystander defending measured by self-evaluation was significantly stronger than that measured by peer-evaluation. The results showed that empathy was closely related to bystander defending. Thus, school bullying can be prevented from the perspective of enhancing empathy among adolescents.

Is It Possible to Measure the Role of the Bystander and the Victim of Bullying in Children? Construct Validity of Two Brief Pictorial Scales With IRT and CFA Models

The study's objective was to develop and validate the psychometric properties of two brief pictorial scales to evaluate the roles of bystanders and victims of bullying. A sample of 910 students was considered (49.6%, boys; 50.4%, girls) between the ages of 7 and 13 (M = 10, SD = 1.4). Both instruments present nine pictorial items representing two dimensions: physical bullying (items 1 to 4) and psychological bullying (items 5 to 9). An additional measure of anxiety was used to assess convergent validity. The Confirmatory Factorial Analysis shows that the two-dimensional oblique model, physical bullying and psychological bullying, presents a better fit to the bystander scale data (RMSEA = .040; CFI = .984; SRMR = .033) and in the victim scale (RMSEA = .051; CFI = .978; SRMR = .040) in comparison to other competitor models. From the perspective of the Item Response Theory (IRT), it was found that the items adequately discriminate the levels of the latent variable; therefore, items 1 (physical bullying) and 7 (psychological bullying) are the most accurate on the bystander scale, and items 3 (physical bullying) and 7 (psychological bullying), on the victim scale. It was also found that the degree of difficulty on both scales is lower for the psychological bullying dimension than for the physical bullying dimension. Both instruments demonstrated good psychometric properties; therefore, they can detect school bullying in classrooms.

Association of Child Mental Health with Child and Family Characteristics in Rural China: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Assessing the mental health problems encountered by school children and understanding the contributing factors are crucial to inform strategies aimed at improving mental health in low-resource contexts. However, few studies have investigated the mental health problems among disadvantaged children in poorer countries. This study examines the prevalence of mental health problems in rural China and their association with child and family characteristics. The study uses survey data from 9696 children in 120 rural primary schools and measures child mental health using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Overall, 17.9% of the sample children were found to be in the abnormal range of the SDQ total difficulties scores. The mean score was 12.93 (SD = 4.94). Abnormal scores were associated with child and family characteristics, including older child age (Odds Ratio, OR = 0.704, 95% CI: 0.611, 0.810; p < 0.001), gender (OR = 1.235, 95% CI: 1.112, 1.371; p < 0.001), and academic performance (OR = 0.421, 95% CI: 0.369, 0.480; p < 0.001). Reading time was found to be protective for mental health. Risk factors include excessive screen time (OR = 1.685, 95% CI: 1.409, 2.016; p < 0.001) and being bullied (OR = 3.695, 95% CI: 3.301, 4.136; p < 0.001). Our study suggests that future mental health illness prevention programs in rural China should consider targeting different aspects of children's social contexts.

Bullying Victimization and Life Satisfaction Among Rural Left-Behind Children in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the associations between bullying victimization and life satisfaction in primary school children and also investigate the interactive effects of left-behind status and bullying victimization on life satisfaction. Materials and Methods: Bullying victimization was measured using the Chinese version of the revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. Life satisfaction was assessed using the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS). Life satisfaction is composed of five domains, namely, family, school, friends, environment, and self-satisfaction. Left-behind status of rural children was defined as one or both their parents migrating to working in cities. The data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U tests, Chi-square tests, and multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses. Results: A total of 810 primary school children were involved, of which 8.5% reported bullying victimization, and 44.3% were left-behind children (LBC). We found that bullying victimization was negatively associated with all domains of life satisfaction (all p < 0.05). With further left-behind status-stratified analysis, we found that negative association between bullying victimization and friend satisfaction was more profound in the LBC group than in the non-LBC group [b(SE)= -0.133 (0.03) vs. -0.061 (0.026) for LBC and non-LBC, respectively, p < 0.05]. When further interaction analysis was conducted, we identified interaction effects between left-behind status and bullying victimization on friend satisfaction (p _interaction = 0.048). Similar interaction effect between bullying victimization and left-behind status on school satisfaction was also found (p _interaction = 0.004). Conclusions: Bullying victimization was associated with low life satisfaction (including lower family, friends, school, self, and environment satisfaction). There were significant interactions between left-behind status and bullying victimization on friend satisfaction, as well as school satisfaction. Left-behind status of children may exaggerate the impact of bullying victimization on friends/school satisfaction rating.

Resilience mediates the association between school bullying victimization and self-harm in Chinese adolescents

OBJECTIVE

The association between school bullying and self-harm (SH) in adolescents has been extensively discussed. Nevertheless, little is known about the mechanism of this relationship, particularly the role of resilience. Our research aimed to explore and evaluate the potential moderation and mediation of resilience in the association between school bullying victimization and SH in a large sample of Chinese adolescents.

METHOD

We conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey of 3146 adolescents in southwest China. The data were collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Multivariate Logistic regression which incorporated the product term of bullying victimization and resilience was used to estimate the moderation of resilience. Mediation of resilience in bullying victimization and SH were evaluated by path model.

RESULTS

The prevalence of bullying involvement and SH were 13.13% (95% CI:9.31%-18.00%) and 47.0% (95% CI: 36.3%-58.0%), respectively. School bullying victimization was positively associated with SH. Resilience was a prominent mediator which accounted for 27.7% of the total association. Among all five dimensions of resilience, emotion regulation (30.90%), interpersonal assistance (24.78%), and family support (22.16%) showed the strongest mediation. Nevertheless, the moderation of resilience in this association was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of the present study suggest that resilience strengthening measures, particularly those aimed at improving emotion regulation ability and building social support could be effective in reducing school bullying victimization related SH behaviors among Chinese teenagers.