Cho Sunghwan, Kim Seon, McGinnis Hollee A, Wike Traci L
Department of Social Welfare, The Catholic University of Korea, 43 Jibong-ro, Wonmi-gu, Bucheon-si 14662, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
Department of Social Welfare, Sunchon National University, Jungang-ro 255, Suncheon-si 57922, Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea.
Children (Basel). 2025 Jun 23;12(7):829. doi: 10.3390/children12070829.
Peer bullying is a global problem affecting youth around the world that can impact youth development including school engagement. The relationship between child maltreatment and school bullying victimization and perpetration is well known. However, few studies have explored the extent of bullying among vulnerable groups of adolescents. Youth in orphanage care may be at higher risk of both maltreatment and bullying because of the circumstances and stigma that brought them into care. This study aimed to examine peer bullying victimization among adolescents residing in orphanage care compared to a national sample of adolescents in South Korea, and to investigate the mediating effect of bullying victimization on the relationship between child maltreatment and school engagement. This comparison allowed for an examination of how caregiving contexts may differentially influence the impact of maltreatment and bullying on school engagement. Data from the national Korean Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS) 7th wave ( = 521) and a study of 153 South Korean adolescents in orphanage care were merged into one dataset ( = 675). Analysis included descriptive and bivariate statistics, two simple mediation analyses, and multiple regression analysis to verify mediation effects using PROCESS Macro. Adolescents in orphanage care reported significantly higher bullying victimization and lower school engagement than the national sample. Negative correlations were identified between child maltreatment, bullying victimization, and school engagement among adolescents in orphanage care. Importantly, bullying victimization significantly mediated the relationship between child maltreatment and school engagement within this group. These findings highlight the complex relationship between maltreatment and bullying victimization, emphasizing the need for comprehensive interventions addressing both maltreatment and peer bullying to enhance school engagement among vulnerable youth.
同伴欺凌是一个影响全球青少年的全球性问题，它会影响青少年的发展，包括学校参与度。儿童虐待与学校欺凌受害和实施之间的关系是众所周知的。然而，很少有研究探讨弱势群体青少年中的欺凌程度。由于导致他们进入福利院的情况和污名，福利院中的青少年可能遭受虐待和欺凌的风险更高。本研究旨在调查福利院青少年中的同伴欺凌受害情况，并与韩国全国青少年样本进行比较，同时调查欺凌受害在儿童虐待与学校参与度之间关系中的中介作用。这种比较有助于考察照料环境如何不同地影响虐待和欺凌对学校参与度的影响。来自韩国全国福利面板研究（KoWePS）第7波的数据（n = 521）和一项对153名福利院韩国青少年的研究被合并为一个数据集（n = 675）。分析包括描述性和双变量统计、两个简单中介分析以及使用PROCESS宏进行的多元回归分析，以验证中介效应。福利院青少年报告的欺凌受害情况明显高于全国样本，而学校参与度则较低。在福利院青少年中，儿童虐待、欺凌受害和学校参与度之间存在负相关。重要的是，在这一群体中，欺凌受害显著中介了儿童虐待与学校参与度之间的关系。这些发现凸显了虐待与欺凌受害之间的复杂关系，强调需要采取综合干预措施来解决虐待和同伴欺凌问题，以提高弱势群体青少年的学校参与度。
