Bullying Victimization, Coping Strategies, and Depression of Children of China

It is common knowledge that bullying victimization and coping strategies significantly affect the psychological well-being of children. However, which coping strategies are more effective at a particular level of bullying victimization is underexplored. Using survey data from 1,634 children from 10...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of interpersonal violence Vol. 37; no. 1-2; pp. 195 - 220
Main Authors Xie, Shenghua, Xu, Junling, Gao, Yunjiao
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2022
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Adaptation, Psychological
Bullying
Child
Children
China
Common sense
Coping
Coping strategies
Crime Victims
Factor Analysis
Help seeking behavior
Humans
Mental depression
Schools
Self defense
Victimization
Well being
China
depression
children
coping strategy
China
bullying victimization
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Summary:It is common knowledge that bullying victimization and coping strategies significantly affect the psychological well-being of children. However, which coping strategies are more effective at a particular level of bullying victimization is underexplored. Using survey data from 1,634 children from 10 schools in Wuhan, China, this study aims to investigate the abovementioned research gap. The results of factor analysis suggest that coping strategies of children in China can be divided into three types: help-seeking, avoidance, and self-defense. The results of multilevel modeling suggest that children adopting different coping strategies have distinct levels of depression. Help seekers show a significantly lower level of depression than self-defenders and avoiders. However, with increased bullying victimization, the effectiveness of the help-seeking strategy gradually decreases to offset the negative effect of bullying victimization on psychological well-being. Instead, those who adopt the self-defense strategy display a lower level of depression. The findings of this study suggest that there is no single coping strategy that is best for children, and the more effective strategy largely relies on the level of bullying victimization. The findings also imply that without external support, it is almost impossible for children to completely overcome the negative consequences of bullying on their own.
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ISSN:0886-2605
1552-6518
1552-6518
DOI:10.1177/0886260520907361