The association of school bullying victimization and suicidal ideation among school-aged adolescents in Yixing City, China

Background: Research on the associations of type-specific bullying victimization and poly-bullying victimization with suicidal ideation is limited and contradictory. This study aimed to examine these associations among school-aged adolescents.

Methods: A total of 13,258 students from 3 middle schools and 4 high schools in a southern city in China completed a cross-sectional questionnaire in 2019. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to examine associations between type-specific bullying victimization and poly-victimization with suicidal ideation.

Results: The latent class analysis identified three subgroups of suicidal ideation: low (70.0 %), moderate (24.0 %), and high (6.0 %). Compared with non-bullying victimization in the past year, the corresponding adjusted odds ratios [aOR] (95 % CI) of moderate and high suicidal ideation for only physical victimization were 1.74 (1.15, 2.63) and 2.51 (1.18, 5.38), respectively, for only relational victimization were 1.26 (0.97, 1.62) and 2.48 (1.65, 3.71), respectively, for only verbal victimization were 1.45 (1.17, 1.78) and 1.42 (0.90, 2.22), respectively, for only property victimization were 1.30 (1.03, 1.65) and 1.31 (0.80, 2.16), respectively, and for sexual victimization were 1.38 (1.03, 1.83) and 2.45 (1.50, 3.99), respectively. Poly-bullying victimization was associated with moderate (aOR_two = 1.45 (1.24, 1.70); aOR_three = 1.70 (1.41, 2.05), aOR_four = 2.03 (1.61, 2.58), aOR_five = 2.48 (1.74, 3.53)) and high suicidal ideation (aOR_two = 2.01 (1.49, 2.70), aOR_three = 3.87 (2.86, 5.25), aOR_four = 4.55 (3.20,6.46), aOR_five = 7.90 (5.06, 12.33)).

Limitations: The research design is cross-sectional, and relevant data was based on self-reports.

Conclusions: Different types of bullying victimization were associated with suicidal ideation and poly-bullying victimization and suicidal ideation association shows a dose-response-relationship.