Association between Child Abuse, Depression, and School Bullying among Chinese Secondary School Students

Liu Liu; Xiaotao Wang; Binli Chen; Wing-Hong Chui; Xiying Wang

doi:10.3390/ijerph20010697

Association between Child Abuse, Depression, and School Bullying among Chinese Secondary School Students

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 30;20(1):697. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010697.

Authors

Liu Liu¹, Xiaotao Wang², Binli Chen³, Wing-Hong Chui⁴, Xiying Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
² School of Social Development, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097, China.
³ School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
⁴ Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
⁵ Institute for Education Theories, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.

Abstract

Introduction: School bullying is a serious social and public health problem. This article aims to explore the association between experiences of childhood abuse and involvement in school bullying, especially considering the mediating effects of depression.

Methods: The sample of this study was 3059 students (1584 males and 1475 females) aged from 12 to 20, in eleven Chinese secondary schools, which included six middle schools, four high schools, and one vocational high school in both urban and rural areas. The multinomial logit regression and linear regression were conducted by the two gender groups, to determine the mediating effect of depression in the association between child abuse experiences and involvement in school bullying.

Results: This study indicated that female students were less likely to be involved in school bullying. Male students were more represented in the bully-victim group and experienced more physical and mental abuse during childhood. Depression was a mediator between childhood abuse and involvement in school bullying. Nevertheless, there was a gender difference in that depression fully mediated the relationship between the two variables among female students, while it only partially meditated such a relationship for male students.

Conclusions: These findings indicate that more school-based service interventions and evidence-based research are needed to more thoroughly investigate school bullying and its predictors in China.

Keywords: China; child abuse; depression; school bullying; secondary school students.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bullying*
Child
Child Abuse*
China
Crime Victims*
Depression / epidemiology
Female
Humans
Male
Schools
Students

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [62277005] and the International Joint Research Project of the Faculty of Education [ICER202005], Beijing Normal University. Funding was also provided by the National Social Science Fund of China [19BSH029; 17CRK019].