Chronic bullying victimization and life satisfaction among children from multicultural families in South Korea: Heterogeneity by immigrant mothers' country of origin

Background: Despite existing literature on the link between bullying victimization and psychological well-being, little is known about the potential lasting negative effects of chronic bullying victimization, especially among children from multicultural families (CMF). Objective: This study examined the longitudinal association between chronic bullying victimization and life satisfaction among CMF in Korea, and further investigated whether this association differs by immigrant mothers' country of origin. Participants and setting: This study utilized data from the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (MAPS) 2011-2019, a nationally representative longitudinal study of CMF in Korea who were between the ages of 9 and 12 at baseline (N = 1375). Methods: Fixed effects models were employed to address potential bias resulting from unobserved time-invariant confounders. Three theoretical models were proposed to examine the trajectory patterns of change in life satisfaction among chronically bullied children: cumulative effects, immediate-sustained effects, and short-lived effects models. Results: The longitudinal trajectories of change in life satisfaction associated with chronic bullying victimization were consistent with an immediate-sustained effects model. Heterogeneous patterns in the association by mothers' country of origin were observed. A cumulative effects model was supported for children with Southeast Asian mothers, indicating that chronic bullying victimization leads to a cumulative decrease in life satisfaction. For children with Chinese and Japanese mothers, the results supported either immediate-sustained or short-lived effects models. Conclusions: Efforts to improve the psychological well-being of CMF should consider the potential long-term risk of chronic bullying victimization, particularly among youth with mothers from Southeast Asia.