Bullying victimization and self-harm in adolescents: The roles of emotion regulation and bullying peer norms

Background: While prior research has suggested that experiencing bullying victimization increases the risk of self-harm, the exact role of intrapersonal emotion regulation and bullying peer norms in contributing to this association are not fully understood.

Objective: This study examined the mediating effects of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression and the moderating effects of bullying descriptive and popularity norms on the association between bullying victimization and self-harm.

Participants and setting: A total of 3545 Chinese adolescents (52.4 % boys; Mage = 12.36 years; 90.9 % Han nationality) from 76 classes participated in the current study.

Methods: Data were collected in two waves, spaced six months apart. Participants completed self-report questionnaires regarding bullying victimization, bullying perpetration, emotion regulation and self-harm. Peer nomination items were used to assess bullying perpetration and popularity.

Results: The study found that bullying victimization was linked to an increase in self-harm six month later, both directly and indirectly, by enhancing the use of expressive suppression. The effects of expressive suppression as a mediator were notably stronger in environments with low bullying descriptive norms or high bullying popularity norms.

Conclusions: These findings provide insights into the mechanisms by which bullying peer norms adversely affect emotion regulation and escalate self-harming behaviors among victimized adolescents. Effective bullying prevention and intervention strategies should focus not only on reducing bullying behaviors, but also on addressing maladaptive emotion regulation strategies such as expressive suppression. Additionally, fostering a classroom environment characterized by non-aggressive and prosocial norms is crucial for mitigating the negative outcomes associated with bullying.