Bullying and victimization across childhood: joint trajectories, early risk and later outcomes

Background

Bullying and victimization are major public health concerns with important mental health implications, yet their co-occurrence over time remains poorly understood. This study identified co-developmental trajectories of bullying and victimization from preschool to early adolescence and examined prior risk patterns and later outcomes.

Methods

Data were drawn from the ELISA cohort study (Galicia, Spain), initiated in 2016 with 2,467 children (48.1% girls; mean age = 4.25 years, SD = 0.99) followed annually. Joint latent class growth analysis was conducted using bullying and victimization data from T2, T4, T5, and T6.

Results

Three trajectories were identified with good classification accuracy (entropy = .84): low decreasing (72.7%), high increasing victimization (11.9%), and high co-occurring (15.5%). Higher-risk trajectories included a greater proportion of boys and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Baseline (T1) risk profiles differed across trajectories. The increasing victimization group showed higher parental stress and internalizing difficulties, whereas the co-occurring group was characterized by externalizing traits and a more coercive family context. At follow-up (T6–T7), as children entered early adolescence, the victimization group showed higher emotional and social problems, while the co-occurring group displayed more conduct problems, problematic screen use, and lower prosocial behaviour.

Conclusions

The findings highlight the persistence of victimization and co-occurring bullying from early childhood into adolescence, with distinct developmental pathways linked to adverse mental health outcomes. They also underscore the role of individual and contextual factors, from family functioning to broader socioeconomic conditions. Early identification may support targeted prevention of persistent involvement in bullying and victimization and improve mental health, particularly among children from less advantaged backgrounds.

Key messages

• Early risk profiles help identify children at risk for persistent bullying and victimization, supporting targeted prevention from early childhood.

• Preventing persistent bullying and victimization involvement may reduce later mental health problems, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged children