Abstract
Bullying victimization by peers is highly prevalent in childhood and adolescence. There is convincing evidence that victimization is associated with adverse mental health consequences. In contrast, it has been found that perpetrators suffer no adverse mental health consequences. These findings originate from Western countries such as Germany but have rarely been investigated in collectivistic societies such as China. Furthermore, it has been rarely studied whether positive intrapersonal characteristics (e.g., personal resilience and self-efficacy) and interpersonal positive resources (e.g., social support) may mediate the impact of bullying on mental health. The current study used a path analytic model to examine, firstly, whether previous bullying experiences (both victimization and perpetration) are associated with current positive and negative mental health in university students and, secondly, whether these influences are mediated by social support, resilience, and self-efficacy. The model was tested in 5,912 Chinese and 1,935 German university students. It was found that in both countries, higher victimization frequency was associated with lower levels of social support, personal resilience, and self-efficacy, which in turn predicted poorer mental health. Moreover, and only in China, perpetration was negatively associated with social support and personal resilience but not self-efficacy. In contrast, in the German sample, perpetration experience was found to enhance one's self-efficacy, and the later was associated with better mental health. The results support a mediation model in which social support, personal resilience, and self-efficacy partially mediate the influence of victimization on mental health in both countries. For the relationship between perpetration and mental health, self-efficacy was the only full mediator in Germany, whereas in China, both social support and personal resilience were partial mediators. In conclusion, peer victimization has adverse effects on mental health in both Germany and China. Only in China, however, is perpetration also associated with adverse mental health outcomes. In contrast, getting ahead by bullying in an individualistic society such as Germany is associated with increased self-efficacy and mental health. The differences found between an individualistic country and a collectivistic country have important implications for understanding and planning interventions to reduce bullying.
Highlights
Peer bullying at school is highly prevalent and has become an international concern (e.g., 1, 2)
Results from Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that both countries differed significantly for all periods; the effect size of bullying at university was trivial (h2part.
All variables were found to be significantly correlated with each other (p
Summary
Peer bullying at school is highly prevalent and has become an international concern (e.g., 1, 2). The relationships between bullying perpetration and health problems are not consistent across countries [2]. In some countries such as Germany, Austria, the UK, the USA, and Denmark, bullies appear to be as healthy as non-involved peers, in terms of adult mental and general health [5, 6], except for a higher risk for antisocial personality [7] and alcohol use [2]. In other countries such as China, Greece, or Israel, perpetrators have reported worse health problems and emotional adjustment [2, 8]. A cross-national study that applies the same measures in different cultures may help to clarify the relationship between perpetration and mental health
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