Bullying victimization among Chinese school-aged children has recently been recognized as a serious problem. However, studies on the prevalence and correlates of bullying victimization among left-behind children-whose parents live and work in urban areas while they remain at home in a rural area-have fallen far behind. We conducted a study based on one representative sample of 742 left-behind children in Grades 6 to 10 from rural China in 2010. The results indicate that a total of 31.6% of the leftbehind children report recurrent bullying victimization, which is higher than that of their rural counterparts who live with their parents. Furthermore, left-behind children who experience bullying victimization are more likely to report being drunk frequently, poorer peer and family relationships, and academic problems. Future bullying prevention and intervention programs should be designed to meet the special needs of left-behind children.
Bullying behaviors have been studied extensively in Western countries; however, no national data exist regarding this issue in contemporary China. Using a sample of 14,536 children in Grades 6, 8, and 10 from public schools in 11 provinces or autonomous regions in rural and urban China, our study assesses the prevalence of bullying behaviors among school-aged children in China and examines the correlation between bullying and psychosocial adjustment. Results indicate that 6.3% of children reported having been bullied in the last 3 months, 2.5% of children admitted to bullying other students, and 2.2% said they were bullied and bullied others in that same time frame. More boys than girls reported bullying others and being victims of bullying. The frequency of bullying is higher in Grades 6 and 8 than in Grade 10. Rural children are more often involved in bullying than their urban counterparts. Perpetrating and being a victim of bullying are associated with poorer psychosocial adjustment, although different patterns are observed among bullies, those bullied, and those who bully others and have been bullied. Health care professionals should be sensitive to bullying behaviors when identifying students with psychosocial maladjustment. Moreover, programs designed to prevent and intervene in school bullying would benefit from a holistic approach.
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