School Bullying Among Vocational School Students in China: Prevalence and Associations With Personal, Relational, and School Factors

Abstract

This study poses the following research questions: What is the prevalence of bullying in vocational schools in China? What are the differences between different genders and professions? How should individuals, families, and schools do to affect school bullying? What can we do to improve and to respond school bullying, to reduce its occurrence and consequences? This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 with 95,873 students from 85 vocational schools. The main outcome indicators were self-reported involvement in bullying (perpetrator, victim, perpetrator-victim, or uninvolved). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted, with personal characteristics, relational characteristics, and school climate as predictors. A total of 30.4% of participants reported being bullied, 2.9% reported bullying others, and 21.7% reported being bullied and bullying others. Majors related to primary and secondary industries are more likely to involvement in bullying than majors related to tertiary industries. Boys were more involved in physical or verbal bullying, whereas girls were more involved in relational bullying and cyberbullying. Sex, history of fighting, and emotional/mental state were the strongest individual factors associated with bullying. Having friends was inversely associated with bullying involvement; moreover, a positive relationship with parents and a good parenting style (warmth, democracy, and mutual concern) protected students from bullying others as well as being bullied. School bullying programs, happiness at school, and insecurity at school were strong negative predictors of bullying. Bullying is prevalent among vocational school students in China. An appropriate response to school bullying requires strengthening student capacity to correctly understand and deal with bullying, identifying victims and vulnerable groups, developing school-based interventions, involving parents in prevention programs, and enhancing students’ sense of responsibility in supervision, reporting, and creating a friendly environment.