| Objective This study aims to explore the relationship between child maltreatment and school bullying victimization among primary and middle school students,and on this basis to construct an Structural Equation Modeling（SEM）to explore the independent and chain mediating effects of family function,resilience and anxiety,and to further explore the effect of specific types of child maltreatment on school bullying victimization as well as child maltreatment on specific types of bullying,and examine gender differences in mediating effects.Methods A cross-sectional survey of 6,247 primary and middle school students（3,401 boys and 2,846 girls）from grades 4 to 9 in some primary and middle schools in Anhui Province,China was conducted from October to December 2020.Self-administered questionnaires were used in the field survey.The structured questionnaires included basic information questionnaire,Childhood Trauma Questionnaire,Delaware Bullying Victimization Scale-Student,Child and Youth Resilience Measure,Family APGAR and Screen for Children Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders.SPSS 23.0 and Mplus 8.3 software were used for statistical analysis.Nonparametric tests were used to test the statistical differences between demographic variables for each study factor.Spearman correlation was used to analyze the relationship between child maltreatment,school bullying,family function,resilience and anxiety.The SEM was employed to conduct mediation analyses.Results（1）Among 6247 primary and middle school students,the detection rates of physical neglect,emotional neglect,sexual abuse,physical abuse and emotional abuse were 24.5%（1553）,18.2%（1134）,5.2%（325）,4.8%（302）,and 3.2%（200）,respectively.The medians（inter quartile range）of child maltreatment,family function,resilience,anxiety and school bullying were 35.00（11.00）,8.00（4.00）,108.00（20.00）,14.00（18.00）,14.00（6.00）,respectively.（2）The scores of child maltreatment,family function and school bullying of boys were higher than those of girls（P<0.001）,and the scores of anxiety of girls were higher than those of boys（P<0.001）.The scores of child maltreatment,anxiety and school bullying of middle school students were higher than those of primary school students（P<0.001）,and the scores of family function and resilience of primary school students were higher than those of middle school students（P<0.001）.The scores of child maltreatment,anxiety and school bullying of non-only children were higher than those of only children（P<0.01）,and the scores of family function and resilience of only children were higher than those of non-only children（P<0.001）.The scores of child maltreatment,anxiety and school bullying of children whose parents were divorced were higher than those of children whose parents were not divorced（P<0.001）,and the scores of family function and resilience of children whose parents were not divorced were higher than those of children whose parents were divorced（P<0.001）.There were significant differences in the scores of child maltreatment,family function,resilience,anxiety,and school bullying among primary and middle school students with different family locations and different family economic conditions（P<0.001）.（3）There was a significant correlation between child maltreatment,family function,resilience,anxiety and school bullying.The results showed that child maltreatment is significantly positively correlated with anxiety（r=0.223,P<0.01）and school bullying（r=0.350,P<0.01）,while child maltreatment is significantly negatively correlated with family function（r=-0.484,P<0.01）and resilience（r=-0.497,P<0.01）.There was a significant positive correlation between family function and resilience（r=0.592,P<0.01）,and a significant negative correlation between family function and anxiety（r=-0.292,P<0.01）/school bullying（r=-0.299,P<0.01）.Resilience was negatively correlated with anxiety（r=-0.264,P<0.01）and school bullying（r=-0.291,P<0.01）.Anxiety was positively correlated with school bullying（r=0.413,P<0.01）.（4）Resilience and anxiety played a mediating role in the relationship between child maltreatment and school bullying in primary and middle school students,while the mediating role of family function is not significant.The study found that “family function→anxiety”,“family function→resilience”,and “family function→resilience→anxiety” all played a significant chain-mediated mediating role between child maltreatment and school bullying.（5）Anxiety played a mediating role in the relationship between physical neglect/physical abuse/emotional neglect/emotional abuse and school bullying.The results showed that “family function→anxiety” played a significant chain mediating role in the relationship between physical neglect/sexual abuse/emotional neglect/emotional abuse and school bullying.“Resilience→anxiety” played a significant chain mediating role in the relationship between physical neglect/emotional neglect and school bullying.The relationship between physical neglect/sexual abuse/emotional neglect/emotional abuse and school bullying was significantly mediated by “family function→resilience→ anxiety”.（6）Anxiety mediated the relationship between child maltreatment and verbal/physical/social and relational bullying;Resilience mediated the relationship between child maltreatment and physical/social and relational bullying.The study found that “family function→anxiety” played a chain mediating role in the relationship between child maltreatment and verbal/physical/social and relational bullying;“Family function→resilience” played a chain mediating role in the relationship between child maltreatment and physical/social and relational bullying.（7）The independent mediating effect of anxiety and the chain mediating effect of “family function→anxiety” were significant in both male and female groups.However,the independent mediating effect of resilience and the chain mediating effect of “family function→resilience” were significant for male but not for female.Conclusion Resilience and anxiety are mediators of the relationship between child maltreatment and school bullying.The “family function→anxiety”,“family function→resilience”,and “family function→resilience→anxiety” have significant chain mediating effects on the relationship between child maltreatment and school bullying.These findings provide additional evidence that family and individual factors are critical to understanding bullying victimization.Effective prevention and intervention strategies for school bullying should target family and individual vulnerabilities in adolescents. |
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