Reciprocal associations between peer victimization and depressive symptoms among Chinese children and adolescents: Between- and within-person effects

Bullying and depression among adolescents in East Asia: a scoping review on prevalence rates, risk and protective factors

Introduction

Bullying and victimization in adolescence is associated with mental health problems including depression. Depression in East Asian adolescents presents similarities and differences from that in Western adolescents. This review reports on the prevalence and psychosocial associations of bullying and depression in East Asian adolescents.

Methods

Electronic databases (Medline, and Embase) were searched for English language articles on bullying and its associations for a span of 10 years (1st January 2013 to 19th January 2024). Searches were limited to studies conducted in East Asia involving adolescents 10-19 years of age.

Results

Out of 1,231 articles initially identified, 65 full-text articles (consisting of 44 cross-sectional and 21 cohort studies) met the inclusion criteria and were included for qualitative synthesis & analysis. Prevalence rates of bullying ranged from 6.1% - 61.3% in traditional bullying victimization and 3.3% to 74.6% in cyberbullying victimization with higher rates in at-risk groups (e.g., adolescents with internet addiction). Psychosocial associations of bullying and depression which were similarly found in Western cultures include individual factors of coping style and gender; family factors of functioning and sibling relationships; and community factors of friendship and school-connectedness. In contrast, unique East Asian risk factors included being different (i.e., sexual minority status) and teachers as bullies.

Conclusion

Findings of this scoping review suggest that strong relationships within families, peers and the school community coupled with adolescents' positive coping style are protective against the negative effects of bullying. Conversely, poor parent-child attachment in the midst of family dysfunction, poor engagement with peers and the school community together with low self-esteem predispose East Asian adolescents to depressive symptoms as a result of victimization. Similar to Western cultures, adolescents who are bully-victims and poly-victims are most vulnerable to depression. As a significant proportion of bullying occurred in school, future research could focus on a whole-school intervention approach to counter bullying.

Machine learning identifies different related factors associated with depression and suicidal ideation in Chinese children and adolescents

BACKGROUND

Depression and suicidal ideation often co-occur in children and adolescents, yet they possess distinct characteristics. This study sought to identify the different related factors associated with depression and suicidal ideation.

METHODS

A nationwide cross-sectional survey collected data from Chinese children and adolescents aged 8 to 18 (N = 160,962; 48.91 % girls). The survey included inquiries about demographics, depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, perceived stress, academic burnout, internet addiction, non-suicidal self-injury, bullying, and being bullied. Fifteen machine learning algorithms were conducted to identify the different related factors associated with depression and suicidal ideation. Additionally, we conducted external validation on an independent sample of 1,812,889 children and adolescents.

RESULTS

Our findings revealed seven related factors linked to depression and six associated with suicidal ideation, with average accuracy rates of 86.86 % and 85.82 %, respectively. For depression, the most influential factors were anxiety, perceived stress, academic burnout, internet addiction, non-suicidal self-injury, experience of bullying, and age. Similarly, anxiety, non-suicidal self-injury, perceived stress, internet addiction, academic burnout, and age emerged as paramount factors for suicidal ideation. Moreover, these related factors showed notable variations in their predictive capacities for depression and suicidal ideation across different subgroups.

CONCLUSION

Anxiety emerged as the predominant shared factor for both depression and suicidal ideation, whereas the other related factors displayed distinct predictive patterns for each condition. These findings highlight the critical need for tailored strategies from public mental health service providers and policymakers to address the pressing concerns of depression and suicidal ideation.

Children and adolescents weathering the storm: Resilience in the presence of bullying victimization, harassment, and pandemic lockdown in northern Norway

Resilience is a concept of growing interest because it can systematically inform prevention measures and psychosocial interventions for children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to explore resilience factors among young people who are victims of bullying and harassment (age 9 to 16 years old). In 2021 the burden of the pandemic lockdown became an additional adversity. The study used a repeated cross-sectional design. Two datasets with a total of 2,211 participants from 2017 (N = 972) and 2021 (N = 1,239) were included. The strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) was applied to define the resilient and non-resilient groups, and the quality-of-life questionnaire (KINDL) was used to map resilience factors. A total of 227 participants reported that they were being bullied, and 604 participants reported harassments from their peers. We used correlation and regression analyses to identify which factors predicted the highest resistance to the negative effects of bullying and harassment. The results were that 77.2% of the participants stayed resilient when facing these maladjustments, but this dropped to 61.7% during the pandemic. The most important resilience factors before the pandemic were the school environment, emotional well-being, and good relations with their friends. The impact of these predictors changed during the pandemic. Emotional well-being increased in strength, school environment was reduced, and friends did not predict resilience anymore. The effect sizes were generally large to medium. As it is common to experience adversity at some stage in life, it is vital for families, schools, social and healthcare workers to be aware of the factors associated with resilience. The results of this study may contribute towards an evidence base for developing plans to increase the capacity of resilience among young people.

Developmental Trajectories of Mental Health in Chinese Early Adolescents: School Climate and Future Orientation as Predictors

There is growing support for the dual-continua model of mental health, which emphasizes psychopathology and well-being as related but distinct dimensions. Yet, little is known about how these dimensions co-develop from childhood to early adolescence and what factors predict their different trajectories. The current study aimed to identify distinct patterns of mental health in Chinese early adolescents, focusing on both psychopathological symptoms (i.e., depressive symptoms and self-harm behaviors) and subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and affect balance). This study also examined the contributions of school climate and future orientation to these trajectories. A total of 1,057 students (Mage = 11.88, SDage = 1.67; 62.1% boys) completed four assessments over two years, with six-month intervals. Using parallel-process latent class growth modeling, we identified four groups: Flourishing (32.5%), Languishing (43.8%), Troubled with Stable Depressive Symptoms (16.1%), and Troubled with Increasing Self-Harm Risk (7.6%). Furthermore, school climate and future orientation contributed to adolescents' membership in these trajectories, either independently or jointly. Specifically, higher levels of future orientation combined with higher school climate were associated with a lower likelihood of belonging to the Troubled with Increasing Self-Harm Risk trajectory, compared to the Flourishing group. Our findings identified four distinct mental health trajectories consistent with the dual-continua model, and demonstrated that the development of psychopathology and well-being were not always inversely related (e.g., the Languishing group). Adolescents with unique developmental profiles may benefit from tailored intervention strategies that build on the personal and environmental assets of the adolescent.