Role of depression in the association between psychological neglect and peer bullying among junior school students

Objective To investigate the association between psychological neglect, depression and campus bullying among junior high school students. Methods A total of 927 junior school students were selected from Liaoning province and were surveyed with child psychological abuse and neglect scale, middle school student's bullying and cyber-bullying scale, as well as self-rating depression scale. Results Except of traditional physical and relational bullying, all the other dimensions of peer bulling were higher among boys than girls (P<0.01) and was higher in grade two than grade one students(P<0.05). Psychological neglect, depression, peer bullying was positively correlated with each other(P<0.01). Psychological neglect directly and indirectly affected peer bullying via depression. The indirect effects of traditional bullying and cyber-bullying accounted for 17.00% and 15.40% of the total effect, respectively. The models fit well(χ2 /df = 3.14, NFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.97, IFI = 0.98, GFI = 0.98, RMSEA= 0.05). Conclusion Strong correlations are found between psychological neglect with depression and peer bullying among junior middle school students in Liaoning. Depression plays a mediating role in the relationship between psychological neglect and peer bullying.