School bullying victimization-associated anxiety in Chinese children and adolescents: the mediation of resilience

Abstract

Background School bullying victimization is associated with increased risk of anxiety in children and adolescents. However, little is known about the role of resilience in this association. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible mediation by resilience in this association in a large group of Chinese children and adolescents. Methods A population-based cross-sectional study adopting two-stage simple random cluster sampling was implemented in Yunnan province, southwestern China. A comprehensive questionnaire was used to collect information from the participants. Among all the participants, 4624 were included in the final analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to present general characteristics of the study participants. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were adopted to estimate crude and adjusted associations among bullying victimization, anxiety, and resilience. A path model was used to analyze the hypothesized mediation by resilience in the association between bullying victimization and anxiety. Results Analytical results of multivariate logistic regression models suggested that bullying victimization was significantly associated with anxiety in Chinese children and adolescents; compared with individuals who had not been bullied, victims of bullying were more likely to experience anxiety symptoms, with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 3.02 (95% CI 2.46–3.71). Path analysis revealed a prominent mediating effect of resilience in the association between bullying victimization and anxiety, accounting for 31.89% of the total association. Further analysis indicated that, among the five dimensions of resilience, emotional regulation, interpersonal assistance, and family support were significant mediators, accounting for 30.34%, 10.79%, and 8.35% of the total association. Conclusions Our major findings highlighted the promising role of resilience-based intervention measures in reducing the risk of anxiety associated with school bullying victimization in Chinese children and adolescents.

The Relationship of Sports Participation on School Bullying among College Students: The Mediating Role of Psychological resilience and the Moderating Role of Self-Esteem

“…Scholars [73][74][75][76] argue that psychological resilience is a protective factor against school bullying, with a negative correlation between personal resilience and bullying incidents; higher personal resilience leads to reduced bullying risks. Research also con rms [29,40,44,69,77] that enhancing individual psychological resilience can buffer the impact of negative life events, aiding victims in overcoming crises, reducing the harm caused by bullying incidents, and lowering the risk of being bullied again. Simultaneously, individuals with higher levels of psychological resilience are less likely to bully others, indicating that increased personal resilience correlates with a reduction in school bullying incidents.…”

“…Additionally, high psychological resilience often manifests as optimistic and positive emotional expression, proactive emotional and self-adjustment in the face of di culties or adversity, leading to sound decision-making and enhanced problem-solving abilities in interpersonal relationships, thereby helping to reduce the risk of school bullying [35][36][37][38][39]. Studies have con rmed [40][41][42][43][44] that there is a negative correlation between individual psychological resilience and school bullying, and as a protective factor against the risk of school bullying, psychological resilience should receive focused attention in research. It can be leveraged to alleviate the degree of bullying suffered by victims, thereby reducing the occurrence of school bullying.…”

Relationship between alexithymia, loneliness, resilience and non- suicidal self-injury in adolescents with depression: a multi-center study

“…Resilience as a positive factor has been shown in many studies to mediate between many psychological factors. Several Chinese studies have shown that resilience has the mediated effect between childhood abuse and suicidal ideation in adolescents [32], resilience has the mediated effect between physical tness and anxiety in children [33], and resilience has the mediated effect between school bullying and anxiety in adolescents [34]. It has also been shown that resilience has the mediated effect between loneliness and depressive symptoms in elderly people in nursing homes [35].…”

The Effect of Bullying Victimization on Adolescent Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: The Mediating Roles of Alexithymia and Self-Esteem

“…26 In addition, with the widespread use of mobile phones and the internet, a recent phenomenon known as cyberbullying victimization is also prevalent among adolescents. 18 , 27 It is worth noting that bullying victimization has major detrimental impacts on adolescents’ physical and mental health that are associated with a series of behavioral and emotional problems including depression, 28 anxiety, 29 loneliness, 30 low self-esteem, 31 even suicidal ideation, 32 etc. The affect-regulation model of NSSI states that NSSI is a maladaptive coping style to deal with adverse emotions caused by the experiences of victimization.…”