The Dynamics of Adolescent Bullying Behaviors: A Latent Transition Analysis

Previous
studies have examined bullying involvement types and dynamic development, but
some heterogeneous results have hindered the understanding of bullying
mechanisms. The present study explored these through latent class analysis
(LCA) and latent transition analysis (LTA), and further explored the roles of
executive functioning, internalization problems, and externalization problems,
both as predictors and as outcome factors. A total of 918 Chinese adolescents
completed questionnaires measuring bullying involvement, executive functioning,
internalization problems, and externalization problems at 6-month intervals.
Results showed that the types of bullying involved could be categorized into
four groups: pure victim, traditional bully-victim, mixed bully-victim, and
uninvolved group, which exhibited different transfer probabilities over time.
In this dynamic process, executive function, internalization, and
externalization problems served as both predictor and outcome variables. These
findings deepen our understanding of how bullying involvement changes over time
and the impact of executive functioning, internalization, and externalization
problems in maintaining and changing this dynamic process.