How Can Bullying Victimisation Lead to Lower Academic Achievement? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Mediating Role of Cognitive-Motivational Factors

Abstract

Bullying involvement may have an adverse effect on children’s educational outcomes, particularly academic achievement. However, the underlying mechanisms and factors behind this association are not well-understood. Previous meta-analyses have not investigated mediation factors between bullying and academic achievement. This meta-analysis examines the mediation effect of cognitive-motivational factors on the relationship between peer victimization and academic achievement. A systematic search was performed using specific search terms and search engines to identify relevant studies that were selected according to specific criteria resulting in 11 studies encompassing a sample total of 257,247 children (10 years and younger) and adolescents (11 years and older) (48–59% female). Some studies were longitudinal and some cross sectional and the assessment for each factor was performed by various methods (self, peer, teacher, school and mixed reports). Children involved in bullying behaviour were less likely to be academically engaged (k = 4) (OR = .571, 95% CI [.43, .77], p = .000), to be less motivated (k = 7) (OR = .82, 95% CI [.69, .97], p=.021), to have lower self-esteem (k = 1) (OR = .12, 95% CI [.07, .20], p=.000) and lower academic achievement (k=14) (OR = .62, 95% CI [.49, .79], p = .000). Bullying involvement was also significantly related to overall cognitive-motivational factors (k=17, OR= .67, 95%CI [.59, .76], p=.000). Cognitive-motivational factors, taken together, mediated the association between bullying victimisation and academic achievement (k = 7,OR = 0.74, 95% CI (0.72, 0.77), p = 0.000). Bullying victimisation was negatively related to cognitive-motivational factors, which, in turn, was associated with poorer academic achievement. These findings were moderated by the design of the studies, assessment methods for the bullying reports, mediators and outcomes, country, age of children in the sample and/or types of bullying. The findings are of relevance for practitioners, parents, and schools, and can be used to guide bullying interventions. Interventions should focus on improving internal and external motivational factors including components of positive reinforcement, encouragement, and programs for enhancing academic engagement and achievement amongst children and adolescents.

Socio-Educational Correlates of Bullying in the School Context

“…Other expected results of this study highlight age-related differences in school achievement: secondary school students had lower grades and more absences, because of change in the school climate and increasing challenges related to the more complex and difficult school tasks (Butnaru & Gherasim, 2014). The negative effects of bullying and victimization documented by empirical studies (Lodder et al, 2016, Blakely-McClure & Ostrov, 2016 and meta-analyses in this field (Samara et al, 2021) are confirmed through our data which indicated that bullies had lower school achievement and they miss several days from school than their colleagues. In our sample, victimization correlated negatively with achievement in language.…”

“…Based on previous empirical studies on the negative effects of bullying on short and long-term achievements, meta-analyses by Samara et al (2021) andTtofi et al (2011) point out the increased short-term risks of bullying like school absenteeism, truancy and dropout rate for the students who perceive the school as an unsafe place and also, long-term risk of bullying to develop adverse outcomes, later in their life. Ttofi et al (2011) endorse the importance of quality anti-bullying prevention programs to interrupt future criminal careers.…”

The relation of school achievement with self-esteem and bullying in Chilean children

“…Understanding that children's selfesteem and bullying does play a role in their achievement and that intervening these may have impact on emotional states and symptoms (Kretschmer, 2016), but also on their achievement. Working on improving children's self-esteem and decreasing bullying experiences can also be seen as a first step when planning achievement interventions (Samara et al, 2021). As we included 8-12-year-old children, our results can be used to design interventions that directly target bullying and self-esteem in primary school, enabling schools, policy makers, clinicians, and caregivers to provide adequate support to children.…”

COVID-19 school closures and social isolation in children and youth: prioritizing relationships in education

“…Socially isolated children and youth also suffer considerably; they too have poorer physical (Gini and Pozzoli 2013) and mental health (Moore et al 2017;Mulvey et al 2018). They also tend to have lower academic achievement (Samara et al 2021;Wentzel et al 2021) than children and youth who are more socially integrated. Thus, because relationships matter for health and learning, the COVID-19 school closures undertaken in certain provinces, are untenable, and are, in fact, causing harm (Science et al 2021).…”

“…A positive school climate is consistently associated with better academic achievement (Catalano et al 2004;Osher and Kendziora 2010;Bryan et al 2012;Niehaus et al 2012;Wang et al 2014;Konold et al 2018;Daily et al 2019), better mental health (Somersalo et al 2002;Shochet et al 2006;Suldo et al 2012;Aldridge and McChesney 2018), and better peer relationships (Low and Van Ryzin 2014;Konishi et al 2017). These associations are interconnected-poor school climate is related to higher rates of bullying victimization (Wang et al 2014), which is associated with lower academic achievement (Samara et al 2021), and is causally linked to poor mental health (Moore et al 2017). Bullying is a notable problem for children and youth worldwide.…”