The moderating role of parental support in the relationship between latent profiles of bullying victimization and sense of school belonging: A cross-national comparison

Bullying victimization has a negative relationship with adolescents’ sense of school belonging, which is an important contributor to their adaptive development. Based on the ecological systems perspective—which suggests that multiple systems in adolescence including the family and school are interconnected—experiences at home are linked with experiences at school. Thus the current study examined the relationship among bullying victimization, sense of school belonging, and parental support. Self-reported data of students from five Northeast Asian regions (Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangdong China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) and the United States from the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment, an international cross-sectional survey, was used. First, latent profile analysis was conducted to identify subgroups of adolescents who differ in their experiences of bullying victimization. Second, multivariate regression analysis was used to examine the association between victimization profiles and sense of school belonging, and to investigate the moderating role of parental support in this relationship. There were more similarities in subgroups of victimization than differences across the six regions. The association between latent risk profiles and sense of school belonging varied across the different regions. The buffering effect of parental support on the relationship between victimization profiles and sense of school belonging was supported only by the data from Taiwanese adolescents. Despite regional similarities and differences, a common finding emerged: membership to any subgroup of victimization lowered adolescents’ sense of school belonging, when compared to membership to the very low group. Implications for intervention design for victimized adolescents are discussed.