143 / 2019-11-14 16:56:19

Gender differences in the relationship between bullying victimization, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation in Chinese adolescents

bullying victimization,anxiety,depression,suicidal ideation,adolescents,sex

Objective: This study examined the relationship between bullying victimization, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation of young adolescents and whether there were gender differences.
Methods: A sample of 11,240 primary and secondary school students, with a mean age of 15.1 years old (52.9% male), were selected randomly by multistage stratified sampling from Henan Province of China. The characteristics of bullying victimization, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation were assessed by the bullying behavior questionnaire and Mental Health Inventory of Middle-School Students (MMHI-60). Four categories of bullying were assessed: verbal bullying (VB), physical bullying (PB), relational bullying (RB) and cyberbullying (CB). The binary logistic regression models were conducted separately for female and male adolescents to quantify the strength of associations among four categories of bullying victimization and anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, after controlling for demographic variables (Age, Grade level, Relationship with parents, Socio-economic status). The adjusted odds ratios (AOR) are reported together with their 95% Confidence Intervals (C.I.).
Results: Male adolescents reported significantly higher prevalence of four categories of bullying victimization compared with female (VB:7.2% vs 5.8%, PB:4.6% vs 3.4%, RB:7.2% vs 5.8%, CB:1.1% vs 0.5%). Compared with male adolescents, female adolescents reported significantly higher prevalence of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. Exposure to four categories of bullying victimization was associated with an increased risk of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation among both female and male adolescents (AOR ranged from 2.09 to 7.00), although the effect was more pronounced in females. The effect of four categories of bullying victimization on anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation of female adolescents was significantly higher than that of male adolescents, with AOR from 2.46 to 7.00 and from 2.09 to 4.83, respectively. Exposure to physical bullying victimization significantly increased the risk of suicidal ideation among females compared with male adolescents, with AOR of 7.00 (95%CI=5.00~9.83) and 4.06 (95%CI=2.85~5.79), respectively. Exposure to relational bullying was the primary factor affecting anxiety and depression for females, with AOR of 3.27 (95%CI=2.54~4.20) and 4.12 (95% CI=3.19~5.32), respectively, while for males, which was the physical bullying, with AOR of 3.42 (95% CI=2.64~4.46) and 4.12 (95%CI=3.19~5.32).
Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that adolescents exposed to any types bullying victimization could increase odds of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation and female adolescents would lead to more serious adverse outcomes compared with male adolescents. These findings support the need to develop targeted preventive interventions tailored for female and male adolescents.