Bullying Victimization and Adverse Childhood Experiences: Retrospective Reports of Relative Impact on Emotional Distress

Childhood Victimizing ACEs, Peer Victimization, Cyber Victimization: Gender Differences and Associations with Young Adult Psychological Distress

Previous research indicates that over 60% of Americans have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience, or ACE (Finkelhor et al., 2011; Merrick et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 172(11), 1038-1044, 2018). Exposure to direct or indirect violence in childhood can lead to an increased risk for polyvictimization (i.e., being victimized in multiple ways) and increased susceptibility to psychological distress in adulthood (Finkelhor et al., 2011). The CDC (2021b) recently recognized peer victimization as an ACE, which was not universally considered an ACE previously. Given the association between experiencing childhood polyvictimization and substantial health risks among adults (Hughes et al., The Lancet Public Health, 2(8), e356-e366, 2017), the present study sought to answer the questions: (1) are victimizing ACEs, peer victimization, and cyber victimization all independently related to psychological distress? and (2) Is there a gender difference in these associations? Young adults (N = 496; 58.7% female, 41.3% male, 60% White) completed self-report electronic surveys assessing current levels of psychological distress and retrospective accounts of exposure to victimizing ACEs, traditional peer victimization, and cyber victimization before the age of 18. Using hierarchical regression, victimizing ACEs, peer victimization, and cyber victimization were all individually related to psychological distress for both males and females. Gender interactions indicated that for males, the association between cyber victimization and psychological distress remained the same at all levels of cyber victimization, but for females, greater cyber victimization was associated with greater psychological distress, but the inverse relationship was found for males. Findings from this study suggest that victimizing ACEs, peer victimization, and cyber victimization are all related to higher psychological distress. When working with male and female clients, practitioners should be aware that most may have mental health difficulties regardless of the number of adverse events they have experienced. For females, cyber victimization was particularly associated with greater mental health challenges.

The Combined Effects of Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences on Adolescent Bullying Victimization and Perpetration

Bullying is a persistent social and behavioral problem in the United States. Bullying victimization and perpetration are linked to a host of negative physical, social, and emotional outcomes. Research suggests that a key risk factor for bullying behaviors is adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). On the other hand, positive childhood experiences (PCEs) may counter some of the negative effects of ACEs. This study (a) assesses the independent effects of ACEs and PCEs on adolescent bullying victimization and perpetration, and (b) examines whether ACEs and PCEs interact to affect bullying victimization and perpetration.We use data from the 2020 to 2021 National Survey of Children's Health, a nationally representative survey of children ages 0 to 17 in the United States. The analytic sample was limited to children who were 6 years old or older at the time of the survey (N = 60,809). Using caregiver reports of bullying victimization and perpetration, we created a cumulative ACEs scale comprised of 10 items and a cumulative PCEs scale comprised of eight measures. We then estimated a set of logistic regression models to predict bullying behaviors. The results showed that ACEs are associated with a higher likelihood of both bullying victimization and perpetration. Although PCEs have a slight mitigating effect, ACEs and PCEs interact such that even in the presence of PCEs, children with many ACEs still have a higher likelihood of both bullying victimization and perpetration. This highlights the considerable impact of ACEs on bullying behaviors. These findings suggest that enhancing ACE-aware care and ACE prevention is important because even promoting PCEs is unlikely to decrease bullying levels on their own.

The chain mediating effect of anxiety and inhibitory control between bullying victimization and internet addiction in adolescents

Although some studies have revealed the association between bullying victimization and internet addiction in adolescents, the mediating and moderating factors between the two need to be further discussed. This study aimed to discuss the chain mediating role of anxiety and inhibitory control between bullying victimization and internet addiction among Chinese adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted in seven schools in five provinces of China by convenience sampling from February to March 2024. A total of 1673 participants (695 boys and 978 girls) with an average age of 15.86 ± 0.74 years were included in this study. Subjective data on bullying victimization, internet addiction, anxiety, inhibitory control were collected and analyzed, and a mediation model test was carried out. After controlling for age and gender, bullying victimization was found to be a significant predictor of internet addiction (β = 0.098, p < 0.001). However, when anxiety and inhibitory control were added, the predictive effect was no longer significant (β = 0.006, p > 0.05). Bullying victimization can predict internet addiction through anxiety and inhibitory control. It is suggested that guardians should provide adequate support to adolescent bullying victims in order to reduce the negative impact of bullying victimization on adolescents and prevent the occurrence of internet addiction.