Bullying and victimization across childhood: joint trajectories, early risk and later outcomes
Abstract
Background: Bullying and victimization are major public health concerns with important mental health implications, yet their co-occurrence over time remains poorly understood. This study identified co-developmental trajectories of bullying and victimization from preschool to early adolescence and examined prior risk patterns and later outcomes.
Methods: Data were drawn from the ELISA cohort study (Galicia, Spain), initiated in 2016 with 2,467 children (48.1% girls; mean age = 4.25 years, SD = 0.99) followed annually. Joint latent class growth analysis was conducted using bullying and victimization data from T2, T4, T5, and T6.
Results: Three trajectories were identified with good classification accuracy (entropy = .84): low decreasing (72.7%), high increasing victimization (11.9%), and high co-occurring (15.5%). Higher-risk trajectories included a greater proportion of boys and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Baseline (T1) risk profiles differed across trajectories. The increasing victimization group showed higher parental stress and internalizing difficulties, whereas the co-occurring group was characterized by externalizing traits and a more coercive family context. At follow-up (T6–T7), as children entered early adolescence, the victimization group showed higher emotional and social problems, while the co-occurring group displayed more conduct problems, problematic screen use, and lower prosocial behaviour.
Conclusions: The findings highlight the persistence of victimization and co-occurring bullying from early childhood into adolescence, with distinct developmental pathways linked to adverse mental health outcomes. They also underscore the role of individual and contextual factors, from family functioning to broader socioeconomic conditions. Early identification may support targeted prevention of persistent involvement in bullying and victimization and improve mental health, particularly among children from less advantaged backgrounds.
Key messages: • Early risk profiles help identify children at risk for persistent bullying and victimization, supporting targeted prevention from early childhood.
• Preventing persistent bullying and victimization involvement may reduce later mental health problems, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged children
Related
- When school feels unsafe: bullying victimization, school climate, and adolescent emotional well-being
- Bullying/Victimization Experiences, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mental Resilience and Self-Compassion in Adolescent Students
- Bullying victimization and cyber delinquency among adolescents with immigrant backgrounds: a cross-sectional path analysis
- The co-occurrence of victimization, perpetration, and bystander responses in adolescent school bullying: a network analysis with model-based perturbation simulations
- Teacher-student perceptual mismatch in positive co-experiences is associated with adolescent depression, bullying victimization, and suicidality
BibTeX
@article{romero2026bullying,
title = {{Bullying and victimization across childhood: joint trajectories, early risk and later outcomes}},
author = {E Romero and X A Gómez-Fraguela and K Karo and P Villar},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1676},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1676},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Bullying and victimization across childhood: joint trajectories, early risk and later outcomes
AU - E Romero
AU - X A Gómez-Fraguela
AU - K Karo
AU - P Villar
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1676
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1676
AB - Background: Bullying and victimization are major public health concerns with important mental health implications, yet their co-occurrence over time remains poorly understood. This study identified co-developmental trajectories of bullying and victimization from preschool to early adolescence and examined prior risk patterns and later outcomes. Methods: Data were drawn from the ELISA cohort study (Galicia, Spain), initiated in 2016 with 2,467 children (48.1% girls; mean age = 4.25 years, SD = 0.99) followed annually. Joint latent class growth analysis was conducted using bullying and victimization data from T2, T4, T5, and T6. Results: Three trajectories were identified with good classification accuracy (entropy = .84): low decreasing (72.7%), high increasing victimization (11.9%), and high co-occurring (15.5%). Higher-risk trajectories included a greater proportion of boys and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Baseline (T1) risk profiles differed across trajectories. The increasing victimization group showed higher parental stress and internalizing difficulties, whereas the co-occurring group was characterized by externalizing traits and a more coercive family context. At follow-up (T6–T7), as children entered early adolescence, the victimization group showed higher emotional and social problems, while the co-occurring group displayed more conduct problems, problematic screen use, and lower prosocial behaviour. Conclusions: The findings highlight the persistence of victimization and co-occurring bullying from early childhood into adolescence, with distinct developmental pathways linked to adverse mental health outcomes. They also underscore the role of individual and contextual factors, from family functioning to broader socioeconomic conditions. Early identification may support targeted prevention of persistent involvement in bullying and victimization and improve mental health, particularly among children from less advantaged backgrounds. Key messages: • Early risk profiles help identify children at risk for persistent bullying and victimization, supporting targeted prevention from early childhood. • Preventing persistent bullying and victimization involvement may reduce later mental health problems, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged children
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -