The Relationship Between School Bullying And Internal And External Problems Of Adolescent

School victimization,as a stressful life event,is an important risk factor leading to internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents.However,some studies have also found the predicting effect of school victimization on adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems was not significant or reduced.On the one hand,this probably due to the heterogeneity of the linkage between subtypes of school victimization(i.e.,physical and relational victimization)and adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems.On the other hand,association between the two may be influenced by some stress vulnerability factors.According to the diathesis-stress model of bullying,the development of internalizing and externalizing problems may result from the interaction between victimization and individual stress vulnerability factors.Both as vulnerability factors affecting adolescents’ emotional and social development,vulnerability and respiratory sinus arrhythmia(RSA)are identified as important moderators between environmental stressful events and psychosocial adjustment.Unfortunately,few studies have directly explored the potential moderating effects of vulnerability and RSA on the linkage between school victimization and adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems.Therefore,present study examined the influences of different victimization subtypes(i.e.,physical and relational victimization)on adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems,and further explored the potential moderating effects of vulnerability and RSA on these relationships,through two sub-studies from the psychological and physiological aspects respectively.Study 1 examined the effects of different victimization subtypes on adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems,and further explored the potential moderating effect of vulnerability on these linkages.Scales of Social Experience Questionnaire(SEQ),Neuroticism subscale of NEO Personality Inventory Revised(NEO-PI-R)and Achenbach Youth Self-Report(YSR)were administered to 369 junior high school students to evaluate their school victimization,vulnerability,and internalizing and externalizing problems.Results showed that:(1)Both physical and relational victimization positively predicted internalizing problems,only physical victimization positively predicted externalizing problems;(2)Both physical and relational victimization interacted with vulnerability to influence internalizing and externalizing problems,victimization positively predicted internalizing and externalizing problems among adolescents with high vulnerability,but not among those with low vulnerability;(3)A triple interaction among relational victimization,vulnerability and gender was found,relational victimization positively predicted externalizing problems in female adolescents regardless of their vulnerability;by contrast,relational victimization positively predicted externalizing problems in high-vulnerability male adolescents,but negatively predicted externalizing problems in low-vulnerability male adolescents.Study 2 further explored the physiological moderating mechanism between school victimization and adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems.Two hundred and four students(randomly selected from Study 1)participated in a laboratory stress task(mental arithmetic task)to evaluate their RSA activity levels in resting state(baseline RSA)and stress state(RSA suppression).Results showed that:(1)Both physical and relational victimization interacted with baseline RSA to influence internalizing and externalizing problems,school victimization positively predicted internalizing and externalizing problems among adolescents with low baseline RSA,while they had no significant predictive effects on externalizing problems and lower predictive effects on internalizing problems among those with high baseline RSA;(2)Only relational victimization interacted with RSA suppression to influence internalizing and externalizing problems,relational victimization positively predicted internalizing and externalizing problems among adolescents with low RSA suppression,while it had no significant predictive effect on externalizing problems and lower predictive effect on internalizing problems among those with high RSA suppression.These results suggest that different victimization subtypes are associated with different patterns of adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems,and this relationship may be affected by stress vulnerability factors such as vulnerability and RSA.High vulnerability and low vagal activity increase the susceptibility to stress-related psychopathology in bullied adolescents,making them more likely to develop internalizing and externalizing problems.These findings may provide potential intervention approaches for the prevention of school bullying and the promotion of adolescents’ physical and mental health.