Bullying Victimization and Achievement: School Belonging and Absenteeism as Mediators Using PISA 2018 U.S. Data

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Individual, Familial, and School Contributors and Hinderers to Adolescent Mental Health (Table 2)

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to evaluate whether student sense of belonging to school and school absenteeism would play roles as mediators in the association between 15-year-old US students’ bullying victimization and student achievement, by drawing upon Finn’s (1989) participation-identification model. To this end, this study conducted structural equation models with mediation using PISA 2018 US data. Results indicated that both student sense of belonging to school and student school absenteeism served as significant mediators in the relationship between bullying victimization and student math achievement. Namely, bullying victimization was not only associated directly with math achievement, but also indirectly via student school absenteeism and student sense of belonging to school. Policy implications, limitations, and future studies were briefly discussed.

Author

• Young Sik Seo, University at Buffalo - SUNY