School Bullying Victimization, Perpetration, Witness and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL): The Difference Between Boys and Girls

Abstract

This paper investigated how different combinations of school bullying involvement (victimization, perpetration and witness) affected adolescents' HRQoL, with a focus on gender differences. A total of 3675 students from seven big cities across China were recruited. HRQoL was assessed by the KIDSCREEN-10 scale, and the bullying involvements were divided into eight types based on the criteria of whether a student was being bullied, being a perpetrator or being a witness. The prevalence of the eight types of school bullying involvements, ‘uninvolved’, ‘victim only’, ‘perpetrator only’, ‘witness only’, ‘victim-perpetrator’, ‘victim-witness’, ‘perpetrator-witness’, ‘victim-perpetrator-witness’, were 59.84%, 12.38%, 10.07%, 8.68%, 5.55%, 1.82%, 0.95% and 0.71%, respectively. Students who were ‘victim only’ (β = −1.79, 95% CI = [−2.69,−0.88]), ‘victim-perpetrator’ (β = −3.87, 95% CI = [−5.71,−2.03]), ‘victim-witness’ (β = −2.01, 95% CI = [−2.86,−1.16]) and ‘victim-perpetrator-witness’ (β = −3.41, 95% CI = [−4.52,−2.30]) had a significantly much lower degree of HRQoL in comparison with the ‘uninvolved’. The correlations between bullying involvement and HRQoL demonstrated different patterns between boys and girls. The victimization experience of school bullying harms adolescents' HRQoL most, while the perpetrator and witness experience can amplify these effects. Students with multiple roles, especially the victim-perpetrator-witness and the victim-perpetrator, are more vulnerable than others regarding HRQoL.