Bullies Get Away With It, But Not Everywhere: Mental Health Sequelae of Bullying in Chinese and German Students

Abstract

Bullying victimization is associated with adverse mental health consequences, while bullies suffer few or no adverse consequences in Western societies. Yet the universality of these consequences across western and eastern cultures is unknown. The current study investigated retrospective bullying experience in primary and secondary schools and its effects on adult mental health (depression, anxiety, stress, lifetime suicidal behavior, positive mental health, life satisfaction, social support, self-efficacy, and sense of control) in 5,012 Chinese and 1,935 German university students. School bullying victimization was far less frequently recalled by the Chinese sample (6.2%–12.6%) than the German sample (29.3%–37.0%), but victims had similar adverse mental health in both countries. In Germany, bullies and not-involved had equally good mental health, whereas bullies in China had poor mental health comparable to victims. Bullying victimization has similar adverse effects on mental health across countries. However, compared to the German students, the prevalence of school bullying is significantly lower, and bullies are also more likely to suffer mental health problems in adulthood in Chinese students. The differences of reasons for and consequences of being bullies are discussed and may have important implications for evolutionary theories and interventions of bullying.

Sibling Bullying in Turkish Adolescents: Translation and Cross-Cultural Validation of the Sibling Bullying Questionnaire

“…Although there is a consistent body of literature on sibling bullying experiences in childhood or early adolescence and its psychopathological associations in early or late adolescence, it is frequently argued that the current literature is heavily based on the research that has been conducted in Western, Industrialised, Educated, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) countries (Lin et al, 2020;Wolke & Samara, 2004). While clear variations in the prevalence, type, and consequences of sibling bullying across cultures have been reported (Ji et al, 2016;Lin et al, 2020), still very little is known about sibling bullying in some non-WEIRD cultures, such as Turkey.…”

The role of family and peer factors in the development of early adolescent depressive symptoms: A latent class growth analysis

“…Previous studies have found that traditional bullying perpetration/victimization ( 61 ) and cyberbullying perpetration/victimization ( 62 ) were related to the increase in adolescent depressive symptoms. A cross-cultural study shows that bullies (during adolescence) in China had more depressive symptoms in adulthood compared to victims, which emphasizes the impact of bullying ( 63 ). Adolescents who bully others were found to have more psychological and physical problems than their peers and had an increased risk for depression ( 64 ).…”

Association between school bullying victimization and self-harm in a sample of Chinese children and adolescents: The mediating role of perceived social support

“…Researchers have found that higher perceived social support ( 23 , 24 ), especially parental support ( 25 ), was related to lower self-harm prevalence among adolescents. Moreover, a study of 5,012 Chinese university students reported that BV was associated with a lower level of perceived social support ( 26 ). Some researchers further explored the relationship between BV and different types of perceived social support and found that BV was inversely associated with parental support ( 27 ) and teenagers who were bullied received less support from parents and peers ( 28 ).…”