Patterns of Bullying Victimization among Adolescents in China: Based on a Latent Profile Analysis

This study was to explore potential patterns of bullying victimization among adolescents in China. By cluster sampling, Delaware Bullying Victimization Scale-Student (DBVS-S), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (CAD-7) were administered to 3,761 school adolescents in Hunan Province. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted on victimization by verbal, physical, social and cyberbullying. We found that (i) There is a high degree of co-occurrence among four subtypes of bullying victimization. Four latent classes were identified, including an all-type (traditional and cyber) bullying victimization class (1.5%), a traditional victimization class (3.9%), a mild traditional victimization class (14.9%), and a non-victimization class (79.6%). (ii) Males, middle school students, rural students and poor students were more likely to be all types of victims. (iii) There was a graded relationship between the four latent classes and the level of depression as well as anxiety.