Peer-reviewed article
Childhood psychological maltreatment and adolescent bullying victimization: The mediating role of core self-evaluation and moderating role of friendship quality.
Yijiang Song, Chen Gong, Aowei Shi, Baoyu Bai ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how childhood psychological maltreatment by family members increases the risk that adolescents experience bullying at school. The research found that low self-esteem partially explains this link, but good-quality friendships can reduce the risk. The study surveyed 806 Grade 10 students in China using questionnaires about their family experiences, self-perception, friendships, and bullying experiences.
Key points
- Childhood psychological maltreatment was significantly associated with higher rates of adolescent bullying victimization
- Core self-evaluation partially mediated the relationship: psychological maltreatment led to lower self-evaluation, which in turn increased bullying victimization risk
- Friendship quality moderated the effect: adolescents with higher-quality friendships experienced weaker associations between childhood maltreatment and bullying victimization
- The study supports a theoretically informed model linking family psychological maltreatment, individual psychology, peer relationships, and school bullying
Limitations
The study uses cross-sectional design, which cannot establish causality or determine temporal sequencing of the variables. All measures relied on self-report questionnaires, which may introduce reporting bias.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Bullying victimization is prevalent among adolescents and adversely affects their mental health and social adjustment. Although studies have examined how family environment and parenting styles are associated with bullying victimization, the specific role of childhood psychological maltreatment and its related psychological processes have not been adequately tested. OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the association between childhood psychological maltreatment and adolescent bullying victimization, as well as the mediating role of core self-evaluation and the moderating role of friendship quality. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A total of 820 valid questionnaires were collected from a sample of Grade 10 students in a high school in Shandong Province, China, of whom 806 were included in the final analyses. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional survey design, participants completed measures of childhood psychological maltreatment, core self-evaluation, friendship quality, and bullying victimization. Data were analyzed with SPSS 26.0 using the PROCESS macro to test a moderated mediation model. RESULTS: Findings revealed that childhood psychological maltreatment was significantly and positively associated with adolescent bullying victimization; core self-evaluation partially mediated the relationship between childhood psychological maltreatment and bullying victimization; and friendship quality moderated the association between childhood psychological maltreatment and bullying victimization, such that the association was weaker at higher friendship quality. CONCLUSIONS: This study supported a theoretically informed pattern of associations linking childhood psychological maltreatment, core self-evaluation, friendship quality, and bullying victimization. These findings may deepen understanding of the factors associated with adolescents' bullying victimization and provide preliminary insights for family- and school-based prevention and intervention programs.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
Problem
Adolescent bullying victimization and its association with childhood psychological maltreatment
- Intervention
- No intervention was tested; this is an observational study examining relationships between childhood psychological maltreatment, core self-evaluation, friendship quality, and bullying victimization
- Population
- Grade 10 students (approximately 15-16 years old) in a high school in Shandong Province, China (n=806)
Key finding
Childhood psychological maltreatment was significantly and positively associated with adolescent bullying victimization
Song et al. · PubMed (US National Library of Medicine) · 28 Aug 2026