Bullying victimization at school and subjective well-being in early and late Peruvian adolescents in residential care: The contribution of satisfaction with microsystem domains

Abstract

There is still a lack of literature about the effects of bullying victimization at school on the subjective well-being in children and adolescents in residential care. In this line, the objective of this study was to provide data on the effects of bullying suffered at school on different cognitive and affective SWB measures (OLS, PWI and OHS) of early and late adolescents in residential care. Additionally, other analyzes were conducted to observe the mediating effects of satisfaction on developmental microsystems, such as school and residential care centers. The sample consisted of 568 early and late adolescents from the Peruvian residential care system, aged from 10 to 18 years of age (M = 14.53; SD = 1.64). The results showed a high prevalence of bullying victimization in both adolescence stages. A stronger effect of being a victim of bullying was observed on the PWI and OHS indicators of late adolescents, compared to non-victims. Regarding the mediation analysis, bullying victimization exhibited an indirect effect (through satisfaction with microsystems) on the cognitive and affective indicators of SWB in early adolescents and only on the cognitive indicators in late adolescents. Results are discussed following a social-ecological approach in order to implement actions at the esosystem level between school and residential care centers.