A longitudinal mediation analysis of mental distress, coping strategy, and bullying perpetration in primary schools

• In Event: Social Relationships in Preschool and Primary School

Abstract

Background: Although school bullying is a long-standing topic, it remains a serious social issue that continues to bring tremendous negative consequences to children’s development. While much is known about the factors and consequences of bullying victimization, less attention has been paid to bullying perpetrators and the explained variables of bullying behaviors (Davis et al., 2020; Mischel & Kitsantas, 2020). Although extant literature finds empirical evidence of the impact of mental disorders on bullying, the pathway from mental distress to bullying perpetration and its possible mediator remains under-investigated. According to the general strain theory (Agnew, 1992) and the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1991), psychological strain aroused by negative stimulus will interfere with children’s cognitive function and affect their adoption of coping strategies, which will subsequently increase children’s aggressive behaviors. Based on the theoretical framework (Figure 1), this study proposes the following hypotheses: 1) mental distress is associated with bullying perpetration (direct effects); 2) coping strategies mediate the relationship between mental distress and bullying perpetration (indirect effects).
Objective: This study aims to examine the relationship between mental distress and bullying perpetration and the mediation effects of coping strategies among primary school students.
Methods: 920 primary school students (57.6% male; Mage = 10.88; SD = 1.25) participated in a two-wave longitudinal survey in Hong Kong, completing self-report questionnaires on demographic characteristics, mental distress, coping strategies, and bullying perpetration. Structural equation modeling was performed to test the relationship between mental distress and bullying perpetration and the mediation effects of approach and avoidance coping strategies in two models. We calculated the fit indices to measure the model fit between the proposed model and the observed data.
Results: 59% of participating students reported bullying perpetration in their lifetime in the second wave. Shown in Table 1, Model 1 indicated that mental distress directly predicted bully perpetration (β = 0.117, 95% CI [0.048, 0.185], p = 0.001). For indirect effect, approach coping was significantly correlated with mental distress (β = -0.125, 95% CI [-0.206, -0.045], p = 0.002) and bullying perpetration (β = -0.168, 95% CI [-0.243, -0.094], p = 0.000). The proportion of the meditation effect found in Model 1 was 15.2%, with a good model fit (CFI=0.950; TLI=0.927; RMSEA=0.058; GFI=0.955). Model 2 revealed that avoidance coping strategy showed no significant mediating effects on the relationship between mental distress and bullying perpetration.
Conclusion: Overall, the findings highlight the worrying prevalence of bullying perpetration in Hong Kong and illustrate that students with mental distress show a lower probability of adopting the approach coping strategy and a higher probability of engaging in bullying behaviors at school. Theoretically, the current study provides insights into how mental distress predicts bullying perpetration and expands the knowledge of how coping strategies influence the relationship between mental distress and bullying perpetration. Practically, this study will open the door to considering perpetrators in future bullying prevention and intervention programs.

Authors

• Tingyu LUO, University of Hong Kong (HKU)
  Presenting Author

• Yik Wa Law, The University of Hong Kong