Patterns of Bullying Victimization and Associations with Mental Health Problems in Chinese Adolescents: A Latent Class Analysis

Bullying victimization in school students is a serious public health concern and has been linked to a wide range of mental health problems. The current study aims to examine patterns of involvement in different types of bullying victimization among Chinese adolescents and evaluate the associations between bullying victimization and mental health problems. Cross-sectional data from 20,722 middle school students from Guangdong Province were sampled using a multistage, stratified cluster-randomized sampling method. Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed on seven items representing bullying victimization. Levels of mental health outcomes were compared across each latent class. Four latent classes were identified for boys: the high victimization class (0.6%), the moderate victimization class (2.8%), the verbal victimization class (12.4%), and the low victimization class (84.2%). For girls, three latent classes were identified: the high victimization class (0.7%), the moderate victimization class (5.6%), and the low victimization class (93.7%). Characteristics of the item probabilities were different between boys and girls. For both genders, a graded relationship was found between bullying victimization class membership and mental health outcomes. These findings underline the complexity of bullying victimization patterns among Chinese adolescents. Students with higher involvement in bullying victimization have more severe mental health problems.