The relationship between the bullying victimization and sense of school belonging: A cross-national comparison using TIMSS 2019

• In Event: The interplay of socio-cultural dynamics and school environments significantly impacts students' experiences and perceptions.

Proposal

Introduction
Bullying victimization among school-age adolescents is extensively acknowledged as having detrimental effects. Not only that bullying victimization has a negative effect on adolescents’ psychological outcomes, academic engagement, and outcomes but significantly, being a victim of bullying can diminish a student's sense of belonging and satisfaction within the school environment. Schools serve as primary and essential spaces for adolescents to express and share their opinions through interactions with peers. It is crucial for students to experience a sense of school belonging as they can grow as “active members” to voice their opinion in schools through peer interactions. This study investigates how the experience of being bullied in school relates to a student's sense of school belonging and the moderating effect of a student’s immigrant status using TIMSS 2019.

Literature Review
Bullying victimization is the experience of being targeted and subjected to repeated aggressive or hurtful behavior from other people. Recently, studies about bullying have focused on the victim, particularly the consequences of victimization such as physical, psychological, and academic issues like depression, anxiety, behavior problems, and poor academic achievements. Longitudinal evidence shows that victims of bullying in primary school continue to experience victimization into middle school and face higher risks of school disengagement – which is losing their voice and participation in society. The sense of school belonging refers to how school-aged children feel accepted, respected, and supported students in their social context at school (Goodenow & Grady, 1993). Research has provided empirical evidence linking bullying victimization with a diminished sense of school belonging (Li et al., 2020). Their study discovered that male students reported higher levels of bullying victimization and a lower sense of school belonging compared to female students. Another study revealed that adolescents who experienced bullying victimization reported a low sense of school belonging also (Han et al., 2021). The existing research on bullying victimization and school belonging has predominantly focused on samples from English-speaking Western countries or a selectively on few countries. This study fills the gap in the literature by conducting a cross-national study that identifies similarities and differences in the relationship between bullying victimization and school belonging in 35 countries. Additionally, such studies could aid in the development of intervention models that may be sensitive to different cultural contexts.

Current Study
The current study has two objectives: (1) to examine the association between bullying victimization and a sense of school belonging across countries and (b) to investigate the moderating role of immigrant status in this relationship. The participants in this study consisted of students in 35 countries who were in their eighth-grade secondary school, with a total sample size (n = 98,433). These participants comprised the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS), the population of eighth grade using a two-stage stratified cluster sampling procedure where the first stage constituted a random sample of schools, and the second stage involved the selection of one or two intact classes of students.
The independent variable is bullying victimization. In TIMMS 2019, bullying victimization is measured using fourteen items that asked students to answer how often they had experienced the following events done by other students from their school (including through texting or the Internet): “Said mean things about my physical appearance (e.g., my hair, my size)”; “Spread lies about me”; “Shared my secrets with others”; “Refused to talk to me”; “Insulted a member of my family”; “Stole something from me”; “Made me do things I didn’t want to do”; “Sent me nasty or hurtful messages online”; “Shared nasty or hurtful things about me online”; “Shared embarrassing photos of me online”; “Threatened me”; “Physically hurt me”; “Excluded me from their group (e.g., parties, messaging)”; and “Damaged something of mine on purpose”. Responses were recorded on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = At least once a week; 2 = Once or twice a month; 3 = A few times a year; 4 = Never).
The dependent variables are perceived sense of school belonging. TIMSS assessed the sense of school belonging using five items (e.g., “I like being in school”; “I feel safe when I am at school”; “I feel like I belong at this school”; “Teachers at my school are fair to me”; and “I am proud to go to this school”). The respondents indicated their agreement with each statement on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = Agree a lot; 4 = Disagree a lot). Control variables were carefully selected from the literature on bullying victimization and sense of school belonging. These are gender, students’ socioeconomic background including parental education and number of books in the household, and lastly student’s immigrant status.

Preliminary results
The preliminary results revealed that the students who had experienced bullying victimization were linked to a lower sense of school belonging in eighth-grade students according to TIMSS 2019 in most 35 countries. In most cases, female students tend to feel higher sense of school belonging compared to male students. However, a few countries (e.g., Japan, Singapore, Sweden, United States) showed that female students have a negative association with the sense of school belonging. Likewise, immigrant status is known to be correlated with many barriers to adjustment in a new school such as cultural and language deficiencies, lack of sociocultural resources, and lower teacher expectations. Those barriers may negatively influence the sense of school belonging among adolescents. Contrary to this previous knowledge, several countries showed that immigrant students are more likely to perceive a higher sense of school belonging compared to non-immigrant students or there is indifference between the two groups. However, six countries (i.e., Chinese Taipei, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, United States) indicated that immigrant students have a lower sense of school belonging compared to non-immigrant students. Model 2 on the moderation effect of immigrant status and discussions will follow in the upcoming CIES conference.

Author

• Eun Jung Paik, Pennsylvania State University