Family Structure and Bullying Perpetration Among Adolescents: Direct and Indirect Pathways

This study examines relationships among family structure, social bonds, bullying peer associations, and bullying perpetration among Chinese adolescents, integrating social control and social learning perspectives. Using survey data from 2,085 junior high school students in China and generalized structural equation modeling, we assess direct and indirect pathways linking family arrangements to bullying perpetration. Social bonds were modeled as a latent construct with ordinal indicators. Results show that adolescents in nontraditional family arrangements reported weaker social bonds, which were associated with greater bullying perpetration. Bullying peer associations were also strongly associated with bullying, although family structure was not significantly associated with bullying peer associations. Decomposition analyses indicated significant indirect pathways through Social Bonds, but not through Bullying Peer Associations or the sequential pathway. Several family-structure categories showed negative direct associations with bullying after mediators were considered, suggesting inconsistent mediation. Findings support interventions that strengthen adolescents’ social bonds.