Moderated mediation analyses: Exploring the complex pathways between school bullying and suicidal ideation among vocational school students in China

BACKGROUND: School bullying can affect adolescent suicidal ideation (SI), but the mediating and moderating effects behind this association are still unclear, especially for students in vocational schools.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the relationship between school bullying and suicidal ideation (SI) among vocational school students in China, and it constructs a moderated mediation model to examine the mediating effects of physical anhedonia (PA) and social anhedonia (SA), as well as the moderating effects of cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES).

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Convenience sampling was conducted. The sample included 13,675 vocational school students (57.7 % female) with an average age of 15.88 years (ranging from 13 to 21) from 13 vocational schools in Hainan Province, China.

METHODS: Participants completed questionnaires on demographics, school bullying, PA, SA, CR, ES, and SI.

RESULTS: The results showed that the prevalence rates of PA, SA, and SI among bullied students were significantly higher (40.7 %, 37.8 %, and 34.0 %, respectively). Mediation analysis revealed that school bullying had a significant indirect effect on SI through PA and SA (accounting for 42.4 % of the total effect), with SA being the key mediator. Moderated mediation analysis confirmed that CR moderated the mediating effects of school bullying via PA/SA on SI, and ES moderated the mediating effects of school bullying via SA on SI. ES did not moderate the relationship between school bullying and SA in the female group.

CONCLUSION: School bullying induces SI by impacting PA and SA, and CR and ES moderate this process. This provides theoretical support for developing effective intervention measures to alleviate the negative impact of bullying on mental health.