Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan 9;25(1):113.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21307-4.

The indirect effects of school bullying on mathematics achievement: the mediating roles of teacher-student relationships, sense of belonging and differences between genders

Rongrong Ren  1 , Wei Chen  2   3 , Shouying Zhao  1   4
Affiliations

The indirect effects of school bullying on mathematics achievement: the mediating roles of teacher-student relationships, sense of belonging and differences between genders

Rongrong Ren et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Previous research paid more attention to the negative effects of the bullying on psychological distress, such as anxiety and depression. However, few studies explored the underlying mechanism between bullying and mathematics achievement. The purpose of this study was to explore the direct and indirect effects of school bullying on mathematics achievement among Chinese eighth grade students.

Methods: A two-stage stratified sample design was used to select participants. The participants were all eighth grade students from a city of southwest China and 17,527 adolescents (51.7% boys, Mage = 13.34 ± 0.56 years) were included in this study. Students completed a battery of paper-and-pencil instruments concerning demographic information, school bullying, teacher-student relationships, sense of belonging, and mathematics achievement. The Two-Step Rule was employed to explore the association between school bullying and mathematics achievement.

Results: (1) There was a direct effect of school bullying on mathematics achievement (β = -0.203, 95%CI: -0.235, -0.171, p < .001); (2) Teacher-student relationships (β = -0.096, 95%CI: -0.115, -0.078, p < .001) and sense of belonging (β = -0.011, 95%CI: -0.021, -0.003, p = .010) played separate mediating roles in the link between school bullying and mathematics achievement; (3) Teacher-student relationships and sense of belonging served as chain mediators between school bullying and mathematics achievement (β = -0.011, 95%CI: -0.021, -0.003, p = .012); (4) Gender moderated the impact of school bullying on mathematics achievement (β = -0.081, p < .001).

Conclusions: These results have implications for educational staff by suggesting that teacher-student relationships and school belonging may be the two pivotal factors that future research should utilize the two factors to develop more evidence-based preventions and interventions. Moreover, more attention should be paid to girls who are victims of bullying.

Keywords: Latent variable model; Mathematics achievement; School bullying; Sense of belonging; Teacher-student relationships.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and all methods are implemented in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Moreover, the study was approved by the Guizhou Normal University Human Research Ethics Committee. The informed consent was obtained from the students and their legal guardians before completing the questionnaire. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The proposed multiple mediation model. Note. SB = School bullying; TSR = Teacher-student relationships; SOB = Sense of belonging; MATH = Mathematics achievement
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The standardized results of the multiple mediation model
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Olweus D. Bullying at school: what we know and what we can do. Blackwell; 1993.
    1. OECD. PISA 2018 Results (Volume III): What school life means for students’ lives, Publishing PISAOECD; 2019. 10.1787/acd78851-en
    1. Zhang W, Chen L, Chen G. Research on school bullying in mainland China. In: Smith P, Kwak K, Toda Y, editors. School bullying in different cultures: eastern and western perspectives. Cambridge University Press; 2016. pp. 113–32.
    1. Copeland WE, Wolke D, Angold A, Costello EJ. Adult psychiatric outcomes of bullying and being bullied by peers in childhood and adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70(4):419–26. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Holt MK, Vivolo-Kantor AM, Polanin JR, Holland KM, DeGue S, Matjasko JL, Wolfe M, Reid G. Bullying and suicidal ideation and behaviors: a meta-analysis. Pediatrics. 2015;135(2):e496–509. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources