Buffering the Impact of Bullying: School Connectedness As a Protective Factor in Adolescent Mental Health across Gender and Developmental Stages

Background and Purpose:

The adverse effects of peer victimization on adolescent mental health problems are well documented. To mitigate such detrimental effects, this study examines school connectedness as a potential protective factor. While prior research indicates benefits, few studies have investigated gender differences and different levels of victimization exposure. This research addressed the following questions: (1) Do different patterns of peer victimization across early adolescence (i.e., never, early onset, later onset, and chronic exposure) predict internalizing problems in later adolescence? (2) Does gender moderate the relationship between peer victimization patterns and later internalizing problems, or the moderating effect of school connectedness?

Methods

Utilizing data from the Future Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the analysis focused on youth at ages 9 and 15. The analytic sample consisted of 2902 youth after selecting cases based on participation in both Year 9 and Year 15 interviews and handling missing data on key study variables. Peer victimization at ages 9 and 15 was assessed by four items adopted from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement (PSID-CDS-III). School connectedness at ages 9 and 15 was assessed by four items adopted from the PSID-CDS-III. Internalizing symptoms at ages 9 and 15 were assessed by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). This study controlled for individual and family characteristics as covariates, including race, age, household size, family poverty level, mother’s education background, marital status, and maternal depression. We conducted Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and Ordinary Least Square Regression (OLS) to determine the types of peer victimization patterns and examine the association between peer victimization patterns and internalizing problems, potentially moderated by school connectedness and gender.

Results

The results indicated four profiles of bullying victimization: no victimization (31.5%, N = 914), early victimization only (44.3%, N = 1,284; victimized at age 9 only), later-onset victimization (6.5%, N = 188; victimized at age 15 only), and chronic victimization (17.8%, N = 613; victimized at both ages 9 and 15). Among girls, chronic victimization was significantly positively associated with internalizing problems at age 15 compared to the no-exposure group (β = 1.60, p < .001), and school connectedness at age 15 significantly buffered this relationship (β = –0.32, p < .05). Among boys, victimization profiles were not directly associated with internalizing symptoms. However, among boys with later-onset exposure, those with higher school connectedness reported greater internalizing problems (β = 0.35, p < .05).

Conclusions and Implications

This study extends existing research on risk and protective factors for adolescent mental health by examining how gender, peer victimization profiles, and school connectedness interact to influence internalizing symptoms. Findings suggest that school connectedness may be an important protective factor for decreasing internalizing symptoms for girls who have experienced chronic bullying. However, for boys, school connectedness does not appear to offer the same level of protection—particularly for those with later-onset victimization. These gendered differences showed the importance of tailoring peer bullying prevention and intervention strategies to both the timing of victimization and students’ developmental and social contexts.