Is exposure to peer violence a precipitating factor for school bullying among students? Evidence from China

Abstract

Preventing school bullying is a critical issue in the global educational landscape. This paper focuses on the influence of peer violent behavior on the likelihood of junior high school students becoming school bullies. Utilizing data from the 2014 to 2015 China Education Panel Survey, we employ Ordinary Least Squares estimation to examine the relationship between peer violence and individual bullying behavior and find that the probability of students bullying classmates significantly rises by 9.0% when their close friends are involved in violent acts. This baseline conclusion remains robust even after addressing endogeneity concerns using the Oster test and propensity score matching (PSM) method. This relationship appears to be mediated by several mechanisms, including behavioral imitation, emotional contagion, and erosion of moral inhibitions. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive correlation between peer violence and bullying is particularly pronounced among male class teachers. Finally, the study also uncovers that peer violence can lead to a range of negative consequences, including increased incidences of student truancy, academic dishonesty, negative academic achievement, and strained familial relationships. Our findings carry significant implications for developing strategies to mitigate and prevent school bullying.