The role of Coping strategies and academic engagement in the relationship between different types of bullying victimization and academic achievement: A serial mediation model

Abstract

School Bullying victimization has been an alarming issue worldwide. Psychologists and educationalists are investigating ways to overcome the negative consequences of bullying victimization i.e. low subjective wellbeing and academic achievement. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the bullying victimization relationship with academic achievement through the serial mediation of coping strategies i.e. adaptive and maladaptive and academic engagement in secondary school students. Altogether, 400 students from the Rawalpindi of age 12 to 16 complete the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale MPVS-R) (Betts et al., 2015), Brief Cope Scale (Carver, 1997) and Academic Engagement Scale (Abid et al., 2021). With General Strain Theory as a framework, we give an explanation to expand the literature by making investigating difference in the underlying relationships between different types of bullying and academic achievement. The results indicated that: the relationship between types of bullying i.e. physical, verbal, cyber, and academic achievement was serially mediated by adaptive coping and academic engagement except relational bullying victimization. Consequently, the relationship between types of bullying victimization and academic achievement was also serially mediated by maladaptive coping strategies. The results highlight the significance of fostering school-based programs and innovative pedagogical techniques for school counsellors and teachers that help the student adopt positive coping to overcome the adverse effects associated with different types of bullying victimization.