Bullying victimization, self-efficacy, fear of failure, and adolescents’ subjective well-being in China

Abstract

This study aims to understand the relationship between bullying victimization and adolescents’ subjective well-being in China, with a particular focus on the mediating roles of self-efficacy and fair of failure. A sample of 12058 adolescents aged 15 years old in China’s four provinces of Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang (B-S-J-Z-China) who participated in the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA2018) were used in the present study. The results showed that bullying victimization was negatively associated with life satisfaction and positive feelings and was positively related to negative feelings; both self-efficacy and fear of failure significantly mediated the relationships between bullying victimization and life satisfaction, positive feelings, and negative feelings. The present study provides some implications for school social work practitioners to mitigate the negative effects of bullying victimization on adolescents’ subjective well-being.