Cyberbullying and cybervictimization patterns among left-behind and non-left-behind adolescents in China: a latent profile analysis

Left-behind adolescents in China may face heightened risks of involvement in cyberbullying due to their psychological vulnerability and complex social circumstances. Considering the potential heterogeneity within this population, this study aimed to identify distinct patterns of cyberbullying and cybervictimization among left-behind adolescents and to explore how reactive anger, left-behind patterns, gender, and grade level predict membership in these subgroups. A total of 1,351 junior high school students (752 left-behind, 599 non-left-behind) were recruited from five schools. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify distinct patterns, and multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the relationships between predictors and various profiles. (1) Three distinct profiles of cyberbullying and cybervictimization were identified among left-behind adolescents. (2) Left-behind adolescents were more likely to experience cybervictimization compared to their non-left-behind peers. (3) Reactive anger, left-behind patterns, gender, and grade level significantly predicted subgroup membership. These findings underscore the importance of developing targeted interventions and considering the specific psychosocial vulnerabilities of left-behind youth.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  BMC Psychology

• Publication date

  2025-10-16

• Fields of study

  Sociology, Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1186/s40359-025-03493-3PMID 41102803PMCID 12532435
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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