Correlations of different bullying victimizations with suicide ideation and moderating effect of gender among rural junior high school students

  Objective  To examine correlations of different types of bullying victimization with suicide ideation and the impact of gender on the correlations among rural junior high school students.

  Methods  Using stratified multistage cluster sampling, we recruited 3 580 students from 12 junior high schools in rural areas of 6 prefectures across Shandong province and then conducted a self-administered on-site survey from April to June, 2017. The students′ information on demographics, bullying victimization, and suicide ideation were collected with a self-designed questionnaire, Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ) modified for junior high school students, and other instruments; descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analysis were used in data analyses.

  Results  The prevalence of overall, verbal, physical, relational, cyber bullying victimization were 21.9%, 16.6%, 5.5%, 7.3%, and 4.1%, respectively, among 3 413 students with valid information, with higher prevalence of various bullying victimizations among the boy students than that among the girl students. The girl students reported a higher prevalence of suicidal ideation than the boy students. After adjusting for gender, maternal education, left-behind experience, and family structure, hierarchical regression analysis revealed that cyber bullying victimization (β = 0.22, P < 0.001) was a stronger significant predictor of suicide ideation, followed by relational (β = 0.06, P = 0.003), verbal (β = 0.05, P = 0.02) and physical bullying victimization (β = 0.04, P = 0.04); the interaction between verbal bullying victimization and gender (β = 0.05, P < 0.05) and that between relational bullying victimization and gender (β = 0.04, P < 0.05) were also significant predicators of suicide ideation.

  Conclusion  Among rural junior high school students, various types of bullying victimization could predict suicide ideation statistically at different levels; gender could moderate associations of verbal and relational bullying victimization with suicide ideation. Attentions should be paid to adverse effect of cyber bullying victimization on mental status in the students and to that of verbal and rational bullying victimization in girl students.