Bullying and Social Anxiety in Chinese Children: Moderating Roles of Trait Resilience and Psychological Suzhi

Research examining the relationship between bullying victimization and social anxiety has mainly been conducted in Western countries, and little is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study explores the correlation between bullying victimization and social anxiety in a Chinese context and determines the moderating roles of psychological suzhi (a mental quality characterized by being steady, essential and implicit that affects adaptive, developmental, and creative behavior) and trait resilience among victims of bullying. Data were obtained from a stratified sample of 1903 children in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. All participants completed measures of bullying victimization, social anxiety, trait resilience, and psychological suzhi. The results indicated that, after controlling for grade, residential area, and parental marital status, bullying victimization positively predicted children's social anxiety. In addition, multi-group analysis suggested that the association in girls was stronger relative to that observed in boys. Regarding underlying processes, trait resilience moderated the effect of bullying victimization on social anxiety only in girls. Further assessment of the latent interaction effects indicated that the protective effect of trait resilience was stronger for girls experiencing high, relative to low, levels of bullying victimization, and psychological suzhi buffered against the detrimental effects of bullying on children's social anxiety. Most notably, unlike the moderating effect of resilience, the buffering effect of psychological suzhi against social anxiety was most prominent when bullying victimization was low. Findings underscore the importance of enhancing trait resilience and psychological suzhi in interventions designed to reduce children's social anxiety.