Gender differences in the association between bullying victimization and depressive symptoms in Chinese children and adolescents.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100968562 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-2458 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14712458 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMC Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, [2001-

Bullying*/statistics & numerical data ; Bullying*/psychology ; Crime Victims*/psychology ; Crime Victims*/statistics & numerical data ; Depression*/epidemiology ; Depression*/psychology; Humans ; Male ; Adolescent ; Female ; China/epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Child ; Sex Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; East Asian People

Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study. The present study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2020-040-002). This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Background: Bullying is a rising social concern and public health challenge, threatening the mental health of the youth. Existing evidence lacks comprehensive insight into the gender disparities in such association. This cross-sectional study aimed to elucidate the gender differences in the association between bullying victimization and depressive symptoms among children and adolescents.
Methods: A total of 21,654 fourth-grade and above students were recruited from the annual school-based survey "China Common Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance among Students" in Zhejiang Province, China, conducted in 2021. Six forms of bullying victimization were assessed with a self-administered questionnaire and further categorized into three subtypes, including physical, verbal, and relational bullying victimization. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. A multilevel generalized linear model was employed to analyze the gender-specific association of bullying victimization (in specific forms, subtypes, and cumulative measures) with depressive symptoms. Gender differences were tested by the girls-to-boys ratios of odds ratios (RORs) and the 95% confidential intervals (CIs).
Results: The median age of recruited children and adolescents was 15.07 years. All specific forms of bullying victimization were significantly associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms. Girls who were mocked or teased (ROR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.05-1.56), body-shamed (ROR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.05-1.85) and experienced the subtype of verbal bullying (ROR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.01-1.46) exhibited greater depressive symptoms than boys. Concerning cumulative effects, girls who experienced two or more forms of bullying victimization (ROR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.09-1.84), all three subtypes of bullying victimization (ROR = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.10-3.24) had more prominently increased odds of depressive symptoms than boys.
Conclusions: Bullied girls exhibited a higher susceptibility to depressive symptoms than boys with the same experience, especially when exposed to multiple bullying incidents. These findings underscore the need for developing gender-specific strategies to protect children from bullying, with an emphasis on safeguarding girls.
(© 2025. The Author(s).)

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Keywords: Bullying victimization; Children and adolescents; Depressive symptoms; Gender differences

Date Created: 20250526 Date Completed: 20250527 Latest Revision: 20250618

20250618

PMC12105365

10.1186/s12889-025-23129-w

40420087