The impacts of boarding on coping with school bullying in China

Abstract

Boarding adolescents in China are escalating in recent years. Boarding at school might influence bullied adolescents’ accessibility to social support when tackling bullying, which might impact the reoccurrence of bullying and their psychological status. The current study is designed to explore the potential impacts of boarding on coping with school bullying among Chinese adolescents. This thesis comprises three studies. Study 1 translated the Actually Received Social Support Scale (BSSS-RS) into Chinese and validated it among 378 bullied adolescents. The results supported the BSSS-RS as a reliable and valid tool to measure the support received from family members, peers, and teachers. Study 2 examined the associations between boarding and the bullied victims' subsequent bullying victimization and psychological status through a longitudinal study. 2,927 Chinese adolescents completed the baseline questionnaire, and 1,886 were identified as bullied victims, out of whom 1,440 completed the follow-up questionnaires after a six-month interval. The results demonstrated that boarding was negatively related to the subsequent bullying victimization (b = -0.41, p < 0.05). Further, the results showed that the relationship between boarding and recurrent bullying victimization could be mediated by the support received from family members (b = -0.028, 95%CI [-0.065, -0.003]) and peers (b = -0.030, 95%CI [-0.065, -0.007]). The results presented nonsignificant total effects of boarding on depression symptoms or life satisfaction. However, the results indicated that the relationship between boarding and depression symptoms could be mediated by support from family members (b = -0.008, 95%CI [-0.016, -0.001]) and teachers (b = -0.006, 95%CI [-0.015, -0.001]). Meanwhile, the relationship between boarding and life satisfaction could be mediated not only by peer support only (b = 0.018, 95%CI [0.003,0.040]), family support only (b = 0.044, 95%CI [0.005, 0.087]), and teacher support only (b = 0.028, 95%CI [0.004, 0.058]), but also by peer support and self-efficacy in serial (b = 0.003, 95%CI [0.001,0.006]), and family support and self-efficacy in serial (b = 0.002, 95%CI [0.001,0.006]). Study 2 concluded that boarding might impact the coping resources among bullied adolescents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Study 3 upon 35 bullied adolescents to explore the full and dynamic coping experiences differentiated by the adolescents’ boarding statuses. The thematic analyses yielded themes regarding the coping components of bullying. The comparison analyses revealed differences in the bullying experiences, coping strategies, and influential factors of utilizing social support between boarders and non-boarders. This thesis examined the potential impacts of boarding on coping with school bullying among adolescents in China. The present research found that boarding was positively related to the support received from family members, peers, and teachers, which was significantly associated with recurrent bullying victimization and psychological status. This thesis highlights the impacts of boarding experiences on the development of social relationships and underscores the importance of social support among bullied adolescents. Additionally, it revealed the factors influencing boarders’ and non-boarders’ utilization of social support under bullying. Future interventions should improve the social support utilization by the bullied boarders and non-boarders, mainly by breaking the barriers and spurring the facilitators.