Bullying victimization significantly affects the physical and mental health of adolescents and has garnered increasing social attention. This study, grounded in the Developmental Assets Framework, employed variable- and individual-centered approaches to construct a structural equation model exploring the relations among parental involvement, social-emotional competence, and adolescent victimization, with consideration of gender differences. A sample of 1,613 adolescents in China was assessed using the Parental Involvement Scale for secondary school students, the Delaware Social-Emotional Competency Scale, and the Olweus Children's Bullying/Victim Questionnaire. Latent profile analysis categorized parental involvement into three levels: low, medium, and high. After controlling for family socioeconomic status, results indicated that parental involvement was weakly and negatively associated with victimization, whereas social-emotional competence showed a more consistent association with lower victimization. Structural equation modeling further suggested that the association between parental involvement and victimization was primarily indirect and related to social-emotional competence. Gender comparisons revealed only small differences in these associations, which should be interpreted with caution. This study suggested that family-related factors may be better understood as distal correlates of adolescent victimization, highlighting the importance of social-emotional competence and peer contexts in prevention efforts.
AbdirahmanH. A.BahT. T.ShresthaH. L.JacobsenK. H. (2012). Bullying, mental health, and parental involvement among adolescents in the Caribbean. The West Indian Medical Journal, 61(5), 504–508. https://doi.org/10.7727/wimj.2012.212
2.
AbdoolaS.SwanepoelD. W.GrahamM. A.Van Der LindeJ. (2023). Developmental characteristics of young children in a low-income South African community. Journal of Child Health Care, 29(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/13674935231173023
3.
AtikG.GüneriO. Y. (2013). Bullying and victimization: Predictive role of individual, parental, and academic factors. School Psychology International, 34(6), 658–673. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034313479699
4.
BensonP. L.ScalesP. C.SyvertsenA. K. (2011). The contribution of the developmental assets framework to positive youth development theory and practice. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 41, 197–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-386492-5.00008-7
5.
BrackettM. A.RiversS. E.ReyesM. R.SaloveyP. (2012). Enhancing academic performance and social and emotional competence with the RULER feeling words curriculum. Learning and Individual Differences, 22(2), 218–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.10.002
6.
BusseyK.BanduraA. (1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review, 106(4), 676–713. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.676
7.
CainM. K.ZhangZ.BergemanC. S. (2017). Time and other considerations in mediation design. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 78(6), 952–972. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164417743003
8.
CarterK. A.DearingE.BoswellA. (2020). Parental attachment and adolescent bullying: The role of parent-child attachment and parental acceptance in bullying experiences. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49(7), 1330–1343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01135-7
9.
ChenJ. K.WangZ. Y.WongH.TangV. (2021). Child deprivation as a mediator of the relationships between family poverty, bullying victimization, and psychological distress. Child Indicators Research, 14(5), 2001–2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09835-y
10.
CoelhoV. A.MarchanteM. (2021). A multilevel analysis of the influence of bullying participant roles upon the trajectories of adolescents’ social and emotional competencies. School Psychology International, 42(3), 306–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034321988972
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (2020). What is SEL? Retrieved from https://casel.org/what-is-sel/
13.
CortinaJ. M. (1993). What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(1), 98–104. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.78.1.98
14.
CunninghamN. J. (2007). Level of bonding to school and perception of the school environment by bullies, victims, and bully victims. Journal of Early Adolescence, 27(4), 457–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431607302940
15.
DheivamaniA.VenkataramanS. (2021). Influence of parental involvement on secondary level student outcomes. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Research, 8(11), 91–97. https://doi.org/10.22192/ijamr.2021.08.11.009
16.
DottererA. M.WehrspannE. (2016). Parent involvement and academic outcomes among urban adolescents: Examining the role of school engagement. Educational Psychology, 36(5), 812–830. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2015.1099617
17.
EaglyA. H.WoodW. (2012). Social role theory. In Van LangeP. A. M.KruglanskiA. W.HigginsE. T. (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology (pp. 458–476). Sage Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249222.n49
18.
El ZaatariW.MaaloufI. (2022). How the bronfenbrenner bio-ecological system theory explains the development of Students’ sense of belonging to school?SAGE OPEN, 12(4), 21582440221134089. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221134089
19.
EugeneD. R.DuX.KimY. K. (2021). School climate and peer victimization among adolescents: A moderated mediation model of school connectedness and parental involvement. Children and Youth Services Review, 121(2), 105854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105854
GaiX.WuX.GuT.ZhangC.MaY. (2022). The predictive role of socioeconomic Status and positive qualities on middle school Students’ achievement of the high school entrance examination. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 20(3), 368–374.
22.
GoldS.EdinK. J.NelsonT. J. (2020). Does time with dad in childhood pay off in adolescence?Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(5), 1587–1605. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12676
23.
GrolnickW. S.SlowiaczekM. L. (1994). Parents’ involvement in children's schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model. Child Development, 65(1), 237–252. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00747.x
24.
HartasD. (2011). Families’ social backgrounds matter: Socio-economic factors, home learning and young children's language, literacy and social outcomes. British Educational Research Journal, 37(6), 893–914. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411926.2010.506945
25.
HealyK. L.SandersM. R.IyerA. (2015). Facilitative parenting and children's social, emotional and behavioral adjustment. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(6), 1762–1779. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-9980-x
26.
HowardM.HoffmanM. (2018). Variable-Centered, person-centered, and person-specific approaches. Organizational Research Methods, 21(1), 846–876. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428117744021
JansenD.VeenstraR.OrmelJ.VerhulstF. C.ReijneveldS. A. (2011). Early risk factors for being a bully, victim, or bully/victim in late elementary and early secondary education. The longitudinal trails study. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 440. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-440
29.
JiangL.WangY. (2022). The actual situation, contradictions, and governance route of the implementation of the “double reduction”. Policy. Forum on Contemporary Education06), 10–18. https://doi.org/10.13694/j.cnki.ddjylt.20221031.001
30.
JiangS.DingJ.LiuY.LuY.LiX.ChenJ. (2023). The effect of cyber-bullying/cyber-victimization on sleep quality in early adolescence: A serial mediation model of social anxiety and depression mood. Psychological Development and Education, 39(01), 85–96. https://link.oversea.cnki.net/doi/10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2023.01.10
31.
JonesB.DurtschiJ.KeilholtzB. M. (2023). Maternal engagement, relational closeness, and adolescent internalizing symptoms: The association of engaged mothering with adolescent depression and anxiety. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 49(4), 861–878. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12662
32.
KennedyR. S. (2021). Bullying trends in the United States: A meta-regression. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 22(4), 914–927. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838019888555
33.
KlineR. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed.). The Guilford Press.
34.
LaursenB. P.HoffE. (2006). Person-Centered and Variable-centered approaches to longitudinal data. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52(3), 377–389. https://doi.org/10.1353/mpq.2006.0029
35.
LiJ.HuY. (2023). Can parent's emotional involvement reduce the risk of school bullying for left-behind children in primary schools?Educational Science Research, 1, 64–72.
36.
LiQ.CaoZ.ZhaoD. (2023). Home-based parental involvement and early Adolescents’ socio-emotional adjustment at middle school in China: A longitudinal exploration of mediating mechanisms. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 32(7), 2153–2163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02594-0
37.
LiR.YaoM.LiuH.ChenY. (2020). Chinese parental involvement and adolescent learning motivation and subjective well-being: More is not always better. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(7), 2527–2555. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00192-w
38.
LiX.YangH.WangH.JiaJ. (2020). Family socioeconomic status and home-based parental involvement: A mediation analysis of parental attitudes and expectations. Children and Youth Services Review, 116, Article 105111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105111
39.
LinJ.QianQ. (2025). Chinese migrant children's parental involvement profiles and associations with their Reading comprehension in secondary school: A latent profile analysis. The Asia-Pacifc Education Researcher, 34(1), 423–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-024-00864-z
40.
LinN.BianY. (1991). Getting ahead in urban China. American Journal of Sociology, 97(3), 657–688. https://doi.org/10.1086/229816
41.
LiuX. W.PanB.ChenL.LiT. F.JiL. Q.ZhangW. X. (2021). Healthy context paradox in the association between bullying victimization and externalizing problems: The mediating role of hostile attribution bias. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 53(2), 170–181. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1041.2021.00170
42.
LowS.CookC. R.SmolkowskiK.Buntain-RicklefsJ. (2015). Promoting social–emotional competence: An evaluation of the elementary version of second step. Journal of School Psychology, 53(6), 463–477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2015.09.002
43.
MaH.LiD.ZhuX. (2023). Effects of parental involvement and family socioeconomic status on adolescent problem behaviors in China. International Journal of Educational Development, 97(5), 102720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102720
44.
MartínezM.DammeK. S.VargasT.YangB.RompillaD. J.StephensJ.QuY.MittalV. A.HaaseC. M. (2024). Longitudinal study of peer victimization, social support, and mental health during early adolescence. Psychological Medicine, 54(9), 1940–1955. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291724000035
45.
MaxwellS. E.ColeD. A. (2007). Bias in cross-sectional analyses of longitudinal mediation. Psychological Methods, 12(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.12.1.23
46.
McLoydV. C. (1990). The impact of economic hardship on black families and children: Psychological distress, parenting, and socioemotional development. Child Development, 61(2), 311–346. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131096
47.
MorawskaA. (2020). The effects of gendered parenting on child development outcomes: A systematic review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 23(4), 553–576. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-020-00321-5
48.
NylundK. L.AsparouhovT.MuthénB. O. (2007). Deciding on the number of classes in latent class analysis and growth mixture modeling: A monte carlo simulation study. Structural Equation Modeling, 14(4), 535–569. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510701575396
49.
OlweusD. (1993). Bullying at school: What we know and what we can do (Page xii, 140). Blackwell Publishing.
50.
PaulP.ClossonK.RajA. (2023). Is parental engagement associated with subsequent delayed marriage and marital choices of adolescent girls? Evidence from the understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) survey in uttar pradesh and bihar, India. SSM - Population Health, 24, Article 101523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101523
51.
PengpidS.PeltzerK. (2018). Parental involvement and health risk behaviours among school-going adolescents in six African countries. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 28(3), 212–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2017.1409481
52.
PodsakoffP. M.MacKenzieS. B.LeeJ.-Y.PodsakoffN. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
53.
Portela-PinoI.Alvariñas-VillaverdeM.Pino-JusteM. (2021). Socio-Emotional skills as predictors of performance of students: Differences by gender. Sustainability, 13(9), 4807. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094807
54.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879
55.
PuccioniJ.FroilandJ. M.MoeyaertM.DesirS.GalimoreZ. (2022). Associations among African American Parents’ beliefs, involvement, and measures of school readiness. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 31(5), 1246–1260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-02092-1
56.
RenY.WuX.ZouS.WangX. (2024). The integral contributions of parental involvement and parenting style to adolescent adjustments: A regression mixture analysis. Current Psychology, 43(2), 1369–1380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04364-z
57.
RobertsW. L. (2020). Parents’ observed responses to children's emotional distress: Relations with social competence in preschool. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 38(2), 186–204. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12315
58.
SerafiniG.AgugliaA.AmerioA.CanepaG.AdavastroG.ConigliaroC.NebbiaJ.FranchiL.FlouriE.AmoreM. (2023). The relationship between bullying victimization and perpetration and non-suicidal self-injury: A systematic review. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 54(1), 154–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01231-5
59.
ShiB. G.ShenJ. L. (2007). The relationships among family SES, intelligence, intrinsic motivation and creativity. Psychological Development and Education, 23(1), 30–34.
60.
ShiH.ZhangZ.XiaZ.JiangX.StephonW.YangM. (2015). Association between previous school bullying behaviour and mental healthy of college students. Chinese Journal of School Health, 36(02), 186–189. https://link.cnki.net/doi/10.16835/j.cnki.1000-9817.2015.02.010
61.
ShiK.LiX.HuangJ.ZhangL. (2022). Coping with school bullying: An intervention study on social and emotional competence. Psychological Exploration, 42(5), 443–450.
62.
SmithS.DutcherK.AskarM.TalwarV.BosackiS. (2019). Emotional competencies in emerging adolescence: Relations between teacher ratings and student self-reports. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 24(1), 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2018.1455059
63.
SmithT. E.SheridanS. M.KimE. M.ParkS.BeretvasS. N. (2020). The effects of family-school partnership interventions on academic and social-emotional functioning: A meta-analysis exploring what works for whom. Educational Psychology Review, 32(2), 511–544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09509-w
64.
SongB. (2010). The relationship between parental involvement and achievement goal orientation, test anxiety, academic achievement in junior high school students [Master's thesis]. Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
65.
SoperD. S. (2025). A-priori sample size calculator for structural equation models [Software]. Available from https://www.danielsoper.com/statcalc
66.
St GeorgeJ.FletcherR.PalazziK. (2017). Comparing Fathers’ Physical and Toy Play and Links to Child Behaviour: An Exploratory Study. Infant And Child Development, 26(1), Article e1958. https://doi.org/10.1002/icd.1958
67.
SunJ.LauC.SincovichA.RaoN. (2018). Socioeconomic status and early child development in east Asia and the pacific: The protective role of parental engagement in learning activities. Children and Youth Services Review, 93, 321–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.08.010
68.
ThornbergR.HalldinK.BolmsjöN.PeterssonA. (2013). Victimising of school bullying: A grounded theory. Research Papers in Education, 28(3), 309–329. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2011.641999
69.
TippettN.WolkeD. (2014). Socioeconomic Status and bullying: A meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 104(6), E48–E59. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.301960
70.
TrostK.EichasK.Ferrer-WrederL.GalantiM. R. (2020). The study of family context: Examining its role for identity coherence and adolescent adjustment for Swedish adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 40(2), 165–196. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431619833479
71.
VaezghasemiM.Pulkki-BrännströmA.-M.LindkvistM.SilfverdalS.-A.LohrW.IvarssonA. (2023). Social inequalities in social-emotional problems among preschool children: A population-based study in Sweden. Global Health Action, 16(1), 2147294. https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2022.2147294
72.
Van De SandeM. C.LeonardusK. P.DiekstraR. F.ReisR.GravesteijnC.FekkesM. (2023). What are the most essential social-emotional skills?: Relationships between adolescents’ social-emotional skills and psychosocial health variables: An explorative cross-sectional study of a sample of students in preparatory vocational secondary education. Frontiers in Education, 8, Article 1225103. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1225103
73.
WangC.La SalleT. P.KieuA. D.WuC.SullivanK. E. (2019). Does parental involvement matter for Students’ mental health in middle school?School Psychology, 34(2), 222–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000300
74.
WenX.ShuY.QuD.WangY.CuiZ.ZhangX.ChenR. (2023). Associations of bullying perpetration and peer victimization subtypes with preadolescent's suicidality, non-suicidal self-injury, neurocognition, and brain development. BMC Medicine, 21(1), 141. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-023-02808-8
75.
WenZ.YeB. (2014). Analyses of mediating effects: The development of methods and models. Advances in Psychological Science, 22(5), 731. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1042.2014.00731
76.
XiangB.WeiC.HanX.ZhengH.LiuJ. (2024). Relationship between peer victimization and children's depression: The moderating effects of individual and group-level hope. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 32(1), 76–81. https://doi.org/10.16128/j.cnki.1005-3611.2024.01.013
77.
XiongY.QinX.WangQ.RenP. (2021). Parental involvement in Adolescents’ learning and academic achievement: Cross-lagged effect and mediation of academic engagement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(9), 1811–1823. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01460-w
78.
YinX.LiuM.LinR. (2022). The influence of Parents’ psychological distress on Adolescents’ learning: The mediating role of Parents’ educational participation and parent-child cohesion. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 30(03), 605–608+613. https://link.oversea.cnki.net/doi/10.16128/j.cnki.1005-3611.2022.03.021
79.
YingK. W.KuttyF. M. (2023). Parental involvement and peer relationships towards primary school students social awareness. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 12(2), 242–261. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARPED/v12-i2/16767
80.
ZhangW.WuJ. (1999). Revision of the Chinese version of the olweus child bullying questionnaire. Psychological Development and Education, (02), 8–12.
81.
ZhaoQ. (2023). Relationship between parenting styles and school bullying behaviour among adolescents. SHS Web of Conferences, 180, Article 02030. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202318002030
82.
ZhuD.Miller-SloughR. L.GarnerP. W.DunsmoreJ. C. (2025). Adolescent peer relationship difficulties, prosociality, and parental emotion socialization: Moderating roles of adolescent gender. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 186(1), 39–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2024.2386012
83.
ZhuX. (2016). Study on the reliability and validity of the chinese version on delaware social and emotional competency scale[Master's thesis]. Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).
84.
ZhuX.LiW.HuJ.LinX. (2024). Associations between parental involvement and externalizing problem behaviors among Chinese rural adolescents in the digital age. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04095-x
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
