Explaining Physical Bullying in Chinese Middle Schools

Most studies of school bullying in China are atheoretical. To fill the gap in the literature, we introduce criminological theories in an attempt to test propositions broadly derived from these perspectives in the study of physical bullying. Relying on data collected from 12 middle schools (Grades 7 to 9) in three cities with information on both physical bullying victimization and perpetration, we hypothesize that there is a relationship between victims and offenders, and that models predicting bullying perpetration would also account for bullying victimization, but the variable strengths may vary. Results are mixed. Those who reported being a victim of bullying in the past 6 months and those who were bullies were significantly correlated. However, the variables from the social bond perspective cannot account for the bullying perpetration once the variables from the subcultural perspective are introduced, while two of them are capable of explaining victimization. Two variables from the subcultural perspective seem to account for both bullying victimization and perpetration, but the strength of deviance in the model of perpetration is significantly stronger than its strength in the victimization model.