Impact of Bullying—Victimization and Gender over Psychological Distress, Suicidal Ideation, and Family Functioning of Mexican Adolescents

Abstract

Bullying victimization is strongly associated with increased psychological distress and suicide in adolescents and poor family functioning. Knowledge of gender differences influencing these factors will improve the prevention of mental problems and suicide in victimized adolescents. A total of 1685 Mexican secondary students, 12–17 years old (m = 13.65), of whom 54% were girls, responded to a standardized scale questionnaire to analyze such differences. Based on the statistical analysis, girls reported significantly lower family functioning and higher psychological distress and suicidal ideation than boys. The cluster analysis classified adolescents into high (5.78%), moderate (24.07%), and no-victimization (69.76%) groups. Boys predominated in the high (3.1%) and moderate-victimization (12.4%) clusters, and girls in the no-victimization group (39.51%). Multivariate statistical analyses found significant differences between the three groups, with the highest means of psychological distress and suicidal ideation and lowest family functioning in the high-victimization group. Only for suicidal ideation, there was an interaction between gender and the degree of victimization, with girls showing a higher increase of suicidal ideation than boys in the same cluster. Conclusions: Early detection and intervention in bullying-victimized adolescents, aiming to decrease psychological distress and suicidal ideation and strengthen family functioning, should consider contextual gender differences for effective prevention of mental health problems and suicide in adolescents.

An Ecological Inquiry on Young People’s Suicidal Ideation at University: Individual, Relational and Cultural Factors and Their Interactions

“…Microsystemic variables were in the same direction, especially Family Functioning and Community Informal Social Support. These associations confirmed previous results in another context [58,59] and local research with early adolescents [23]. Following the line of correlations, we can confirm the inverse relation of microsystem over the factors related to higher SI (PD and loneliness) being Family Functioning r coefficient higher than Community Supports.…”

“…School bullying is unprovoked interpersonal violence, persistent over time, and occurs in a power imbalance situation that favors the aggressor [22]. School bullying victimization increases SI in Mexican adolescents [23]. It is associated with suicidal behavior in young [24], and extensive research in this field confirmed the short and long-term impact on young suicidal risk [25].…”

Discovering the impact of bullying on adolescents through bibliometric analysis

“…A positive self-identity will be formed if teenagers are able to explore new roles in a healthy way and find a positive path. 39 On the other hand, identity confusion arises because teenagers do not explore different roles and do not find positive paths, which can lead to delinquency such as bullying. Bullying is a secret action, while the victims (even eyewitnesses) do not dare to report it.…”

Bullying at School and Students’ Learning Outcomes: International Perspective and Gender Analysis

“…Commonly, gender is an important factor affecting bullying (Cook et al, 2010; Riffle et al, 2021). It is typically suggested that males are more likely to be bullied in school than females (Bouffard & Koeppel, 2016; Cosma et al, 2020; Nuñez-Fadda et al, 2022). However, other research shows the opposite to be the case (Merrill & Hanson, 2016; Smith et al, 2002).…”