School Bullying Victimization and Child Subjective Well-Being in East Asian Countries: Role of Children’s Participation in Decision-Making in Schools and Community

Background and Purpose: Over 246 millions students are bullied in schools worldwide (UNESCO, 2017), with UNICEF reporting that at least two thirds of all school-aged children experience it (UNICEF, 2016). Multiple studies have reported the adverse effects of bullying, such as negative impacts on educational and/or mental health outcomes, but literature about protective factors for child well-being in this context is sparse. This study aims to test whether children’s perception of their participation in decision-making in school and community can be a protective factor against the negative effects of bullying on child subjective well-being in three East Asian countries.

Methods: This study is focused on the secondary data analysis of the third wave of the Children’s World: International Survey of Children’s Lives and Well-Being. The data were collected through a self-administrated survey in both electronic and paper versions using a random sampling technique. Using data from 10 and 12 year-olds, a subsample of 5,717 children from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea was drawn

Subjective child well-being was conceptualized as cognitive and psychological well-being and measured by the Student Life Satisfaction scale (Huebner, 1991) and the Brief Multidimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale (Seligson et al., 2003). Bullying victimization was measured by three items, which were asked for the frequency of bullying behaviors (ex. hitting, being called names). Children’s participation in decision-making was conceptualized as perceived power to participate and be heard in decision-making process in school and community. To analyze the relationship between bullying victimization and subjective child well-being with participation in school, and community as moderators, SPSS 27.0 PROCESS Macro 4.1 (Hayes, 2022) was conducted.

Results: The results showed that participation in decision-making in school has a significant moderating effect on the association between bullying victimization and subjective well-being (B = .25, SE = .11, p = .00, 95% CI [.03, .48]). The findings suggest that participation in decision-making in community has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between bullying victimization and subjective child well-being (B = .33, SE =.10, p = .00, 95% CI [.15, .53]). It indicates that participation in decision-making in school and community buffers the effect of bullying victimization on subjective child well-being in East Asian countries.

Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of children’s participation in school and community contexts as protective factors against bullying in East Asian countries. Engaging children and youth in meaningful participation in decision-making should be integrated into bullying prevention programs as one of the components of decreasing negative outcomes of the experience.

References:

Huebner, E. S. (1991). Further validation of the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale: The independence of satisfaction and affect ratings. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 9(4), 363–368.https://doi.org/10.1177/073428299100900408

Seligson, J. L., Huebner, E. S., & Valois, R. F. (2003). Preliminary validation of the brief multidimensional students' life satisfaction scale (BMSLSS). Social Indicators Research, 61(2), 121-145. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021326822957

UNESCO. (2017). School violence and bullying: Global status report. Retrieved from: https://tinyurl.com/bdezaamc

UNICEF (2016). Ending the torment: Tackling bullying from the schoolyard to cyberspace. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/documents/ending-torment-tackling-bullying-schoolyard-cyberspace