Psychological maltreatment by teachers and peer victimization in Chinese youth: Depression and aggression as mediators

Abstract

BackgroundPsychological maltreatment by teachers and peer victimization are significant public health issues among youth. However, few studies have verified transactional associations between psychological maltreatment by teachers and peer victimization at the within-person level and the mediating roles of depression and aggression have yet to be fully evaluated. ObjectiveThis study examined the transactional associations between psychological maltreatment by teachers and peer victimization from middle childhood to early adolescence, separating within- and between-person variation. The study also examined whether youth's depression and aggression mediated the associations. Participants and settingA total of 4945 Chinese youth (Mage = 9.92 years, SD = 0.73 53 % boys) completed a packet of measures on five occasions at 6-month intervals from May of 2017 to May of 2019. MethodsRandom Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models (RI-CLPMs) were used to distinguish between- and within-person effects. ResultsThe results indicated that: (a) Psychological maltreatment by teachers predicted peer victimization, and vice versa; (b) Depression (but not aggression) mediated the associations from peer victimization to psychological maltreatment by teachers. ConclusionsThe findings supported bidirectional spillover effects between adverse teacher-student and peer interactions and demonstrated at the within-person level that such effects were transmitted indirectly via youth's depression.