The Relationship Between School Bullying Victimization and Adolescent Depression: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Resilience and the Moderating Role of Gender

Objective: To explore the mechanisms linking school bullying victimization and depressive symptoms among vocational school students, and to reveal the multidimensional mediating pathways of psychological resilience and gender-specific moderating effects. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 357 vocational students (41.3% male, 58.7% female) in Shandong Province, using the Multidimensional School Bullying Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, and Depression Scale. Data were analyzed through Bootstrap-mediated testing (1,000 resamples) and multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: Psychological resilience exhibited a “resource depletion-type” partial mediating effect, accounting for 31.4% of the total indirect effect (β =0.082, 95% CI [0.061, 0.109]). Emotion regulation (37.1%) and positive cognition (33.7%) emerged as core pathways, while interpersonal support showed nonsignificance (β =0.006, p>0.05). Gender moderation was significant: males demonstrated higher baseline resilience (rank mean=167.34 vs. 138.64, p=0.005) but steeper decline post-victimization (β =-0.423 vs. -0.296, p<0.05), with stronger residual buffering effects against depression (β =-0.6 vs. -0.371). Females reported greater relational/indirect bullying victimization (effect size r=0.17-0.21, p<0.01), though total bullying exposure showed no gender difference (p=0.724). Conclusion: Vocational students primarily rely on intrinsic emotional-cognitive regulation to mitigate bullying impacts, while social support systems are compromised by instrumental peer relationships. Males display a “high-sensitivityhigh- efficiency paradox” in resilience dynamics—vulnerable to systemic depletion yet retaining stronger residual protective capacity. Gender-tailored interventions are recommended: prioritize monitoring resilience collapse thresholds (slope>0.4) for males, and enhance recognition of covert bullying coupled with cognitive restructuring for females. These findings provide evidence-based guidance for precision psychological interventions in vocational education populations.