School Bullying and Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: Do School Belonging and School Achievement Matter?

The objective of this study is to examine whether school bullying predicts increased internalizing and externalizing behavior through decreased school belonging and achievement in elementary school young people. The sample of this study comprised 389 elementary school students (52.1% girls) from an elementary school in an urban city, Turkey. Young people ranged between 10 and 15 years (M = 12.17, SD = 1.02). Results from the study showed that school bullying had a significant and negative predictive effect on youth internalizing and externalizing behaviors, as well as school achievement. Mediation analyses also revealed that school belonging also mitigated the adverse impact of bullying on youth mental health and achievement. However, school achievement only mitigated the effect of school bullying on externalizing behaviors. Visual modeling further showed that young people with higher levels of sense of belonging at school reported greater school achievement, lower levels of school bullying, and less internalizing and externalizing behaviors compared to those with low and moderate. Specifically, having a low level of school belonging was found as a risk factor for the development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and experiencing challenges in school achievement. The findings indicate that school belonging is an essential source in promoting school achievement and reducing internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the face of school bullying experiences.