Hamstra Cailyn, Fitzgerald Michael
School of Teacher Education, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL USA.
School of Child and Family Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS USA.
J Child Adolesc Trauma. 2022 Jan 31;15(3):869-881. doi: 10.1007/s40653-021-00409-2. eCollection 2022 Sep.
Bullying has attracted increased attention due to the serious implications for perpetrators, victims, and schools. Recent studies have sought to identify factors that may contribute to bullying perpetration, and child abuse has been identified as one such factor. The mediating processes linking child abuse to bullying perpetration, however, are not well understood. The current study explored adolescent mental health problems, including symptoms of depression, anxiety, dissociation, and posttraumatic stress disorder, and poor social skills as pathways between childhood abuse and adolescent bullying perpetration. Data for the current study are from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect. The current study utilized a longitudinal and multi-informant design in which adolescents reported their history of childhood abuse, mental health problems, and social skills when they were 12 years old; bullying perpetration was reported by adolescent's teachers when adolescents were 12 and 14. Results indicated childhood abuse was associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, anger, dissociation, posttraumatic stress, and poor social skills. Only anxiety and poor social skills at age 12 were significantly associated with bullying perpetration when adolescents when were 14. Bootstrapped indirect effects from childhood abuse to bullying perpetration were significant for both anxiety and poor social skills, indicating full mediation. Addressing anxiety and poor social skills in early adolescence among children who have been abused may prevent bullying perpetration in mid-adolescence. Clinicians, teachers, and school administrators may desire to focus efforts on reducing anxiety and increasing social skills to mitigate bullying perpetration.
由于欺凌行为对实施者、受害者和学校都有严重影响，因此受到了越来越多的关注。最近的研究试图找出可能导致欺凌行为的因素，而儿童虐待被认为是其中一个因素。然而，将儿童虐待与欺凌行为联系起来的中介过程还没有得到很好的理解。当前的研究探讨了青少年心理健康问题，包括抑郁、焦虑、解离和创伤后应激障碍症状，以及社交技能差作为童年虐待与青少年欺凌行为之间的途径。本研究的数据来自儿童虐待与忽视纵向研究。本研究采用纵向和多 informant 设计，青少年在 12 岁时报告他们的童年虐待史、心理健康问题和社交技能；青少年 12 岁和 14 岁时，由他们的教师报告欺凌行为。结果表明，童年虐待与更高水平的抑郁、焦虑、愤怒、解离、创伤后应激和社交技能差有关。当青少年 14 岁时，只有 12 岁时的焦虑和社交技能差与欺凌行为显著相关。从童年虐待到欺凌行为的自举间接效应在焦虑和社交技能差方面都很显著，表明完全中介。解决受虐待儿童青春期早期的焦虑和社交技能差问题，可能会预防青春期中期的欺凌行为。临床医生、教师和学校管理人员可能希望将精力集中在减少焦虑和提高社交技能上，以减轻欺凌行为。
