A Latent Class Analysis of Bullies, Victims and Aggressive Victims in Chinese Adolescence: Relations with Social and School Adjustments

Abstract

This study used the latent class analysis (LCA) to identify and classify Chinese adolescent children's aggressive behaviors. It was found that (1) Adolescent children could be divided into four categories: general children, aggressive children, victimized children and aggressive victimized children. (2) There were significant gender differences among the aggressive victimized children, the aggressive children and the general children. Specifically, aggressive victimized children and aggressive children had greater probabilities of being boys; victimized children had equal probabilities of being boys or girls. (3) Significant differences in loneliness, depression, anxiety and academic achievement existed among the aggressive victims, the aggressor, the victims and the general children, in which the aggressive victims scored the worst in all questionnaires. (4) As protective factors, peer and teacher supports had important influences on children's aggressive and victimized behaviors. Relative to general children, aggressive victims, aggressive children and victimized children had lower probabilities of receiving peer supports. On the other hand, compared to general children, aggressive victims had lower probabilities of receiving teacher supports; while significant differences in the probability of receiving teacher supports did not exist between aggressive children and victimized children.