The Differential Impacts of Episodic, Chronic, and Cumulative Physical Bullying and Cyberbullying: The Effects of Victimization on the School Experiences, Social Support, and Mental Health of Rural Adolescents

Few studies have examined the impacts of past, current, and chronic physical bullying and cyberbullying on youth, especially in rural settings. This study augments this scant literature by exploring the school experiences, social support, and mental health outcomes for rural, middle school youth. The participants for this 2-year longitudinal study were 3,127 youth from 28 middle schools. Participants were classified as nonvictims, past victims (i.e., victimized during Year 1 but not Year 2), current victims (i.e., victimized during Year 2 but not Year 1), and chronic victims (i.e., victimized during both Year 1 and Year 2). Findings illustrated that chronic victimization resulted in the lowest levels of school satisfaction, social support, future optimism, and self-esteem. Chronic victims also reported the highest levels of school hassles, perceived discrimination, peer rejection, anxiety, depression, and externalizing behaviors. In terms of episodic victimization, current year victimization was associated with worse outcomes than past year victimization. Implications and limitations were discussed.