The Mediating Effect of Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy on the Association between Self-Esteem and School Bullying in Middle School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

School bullying is negatively associated with self-esteem, but psychological mediators of bullying have yet to be clarified. We examined regulatory emotional self-efficacy (RESE) as a possible mediator in the association between self-esteem and school bullying. A cross-sectional study of 995 adolescents was conducted in two middle schools of Xi’an. All of the participants completed the Chinese version of the School Bullying Experience Questionnaire (C-SBEQ), Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (RESE). Descriptive statistics analysis, the bias corrected percentile Bootstrap CI method, and structural equation modelling were used to analyze the data. The results showed that 418 students (42.0%) reported that they were involved in school bullying in the past year. Self-esteem was negatively associated with school bullying (total effect: β = −0.275, 95% CI = −0.381–−0.034), and RESE mediated the association between self-esteem and school bullying (indirect effect: β = −0.136, 95% CI = −0.245–−0.037). Furthermore, self-esteem had an indirect effect through perceived self-efficacy in managing negative affect, while self-esteem had no indirect effect through self-efficacy in the expression of positive affect. The present study suggests that school authorities and the related education departments should not only focus on improving students’ self-esteem, but should also pay more attention to students’ RESE, in order to mitigate, and potentially reduce, the occurrence of bullying.

Victimization and Peer and Parents Attachment: The Mediating Effect of Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy

“…At the same time, they can have serious repercussions on health and social adjustment [ 14 , 48 ]. These results follow the line of other recent studies that showed the mediator role of emotional self-efficacy between peers and parents attachment and other internalizing [ 49 ] and externalizing variables [ 37 , 38 ]. Also, peer attachment is associated directly and negatively with victimization, which reinforces the importance and the role played by peer attachment in adolescence, as it facilitates experiencing and expressing positive emotions and is associated with lower victimization.…”

“…In the last decades, many studies have explored the mediator role of self-efficacy and especially of emotional self-efficacy [ 24 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. These studies brought to light, among other things, the role of emotional self-efficacy between the different variables and victimization.…”

“…In this study, students with high emotional self-efficacy reported lower use of passive avoidance to cope with almost all forms of victimization. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that emotional self-efficacy mediates the association between self-esteem and victimization [ 38 ], so that the reason why students with a low-level of self-esteem engage in more bullying behaviors may be due to their low level of emotional self-efficacy.…”

Associations between Chinese adolescents subjected to traditional and cyber bullying and suicidal ideation, self-harm and suicide attempts

“…Traditional and cyber bullying can have an adverse impact on the mental health of child and adolescent victims [11, 16, 17]. Both forms of bullying have been associated with depression [18], anxiety [19], low self-esteem [20], difficulties with relationships, school absenteeism [21] and substance abuse [22].…”

Associations between self-efficacy, bullying and health-related quality of life in a school sample of adolescents: a cross-sectional study

“…Self-efficacy includes individuals’ thoughts about their successes and failures, and their perceptions of feedback they have received. Previous studies have shown that a high degree of self-efficacy is related to higher self-belief [8], and that self-efficacy is one of the most important factors contributing to behavior change [9]. This concept was expanded upon by Schwarzer and Renner, who developed the term general self-efficacy (GSE), which is used herein [10].…”