Bullying Victimization and Developmental Trajectories of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: The Moderating Role of Locus of Control Among Children
Abstract
This longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems, as well as the moderating role of children's locus of control on the relations between traditional and cyberbullying victimization and developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems. A total of 4180 Chinese elementary school students (M age = 9.90 years) completed measures of bullying victimization (Time 1), locus of control (Time 1), internalizing and externalizing problems (from Time 1 to Time 5, 6-month intervals). Latent growth curve analyses indicated (a) internalizing problems first gradually decreased and then increased across time, whereas externalizing problems decreased slowly and remained steady over time; (b) both traditional and cyberbullying victimization served as risk factors for internalizing and externalizing problems; however, the effects of traditional bullying victimization on internalizing and externalizing problems were stronger than those for cyberbullying victimization; (c) locus of control moderated the relations between traditional bullying victimization and developmental trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems. Consistent with cognitive diathesis-stress models, children who experienced higher levels of traditional bullying victimization and reported an external locus of control were more likely to experience internalizing and externalizing problems. This study also identified meaningful gender differences. Implications for the prevention of behavior problems were discussed.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The Youth Self-Report has shown reliability and validity in a previous Chinese study.
“The YSR has been used to measure internalizing problems and showed great reliability and validity in a previous Chinese study [50].”
From Socioeconomic status impacts Chinese late adolescents’ internalizing problems: risk role of psychological insecurity and cognitive fusion (2025) · cites this paper as [50]
Cites
Structural Equations with Latent Variables.
Clogg, C. C., & Bollen, K. A. (1991) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2072165 · Cited by 17,471 · see citing works
Statistical Analysis With Missing Data
Lahiff, M., Little, R. J. A., & Rubin, D. B. (1989) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2289883 · Cited by 17,384 · see citing works
A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values
Little, R. J. A. (1988) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.1080/01621459.1988.10478722 · Cited by 8,963 · see citing works
Statistical Analysis with Missing Data
Little, R. J. A., & Rubin, D. B. (2002) · Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics · doi:10.1002/9781119013563 · Cited by 8,473 · see citing works
Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation.
Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.87.1.49 · Cited by 7,121 · see citing works
Marsh, H. W., Hau, K.-T., & Wen, Z. (2004) · Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal · doi:10.1207/s15328007sem1103_2 · Cited by 6,691 · see citing works
A scaled difference chi-square test statistic for moment structure analysis
Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M. (2001) · Psychometrika · doi:10.1007/bf02296192 · Cited by 5,282 · see citing works
Socioeconomic Status and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review of Research
Sirin, S. R. (2005) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543075003417 · Cited by 4,687 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Because past research indicated that age and family socioeconomic status (SES) would likely affect the study variables (Papachristou and Flouri 2019), the study controlled for these variables.”
Background(1991) · Cited by 3,844 · see citing works
Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression.
Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Alloy, L. B. (1989) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037//0033-295x.96.2.358 · Cited by 3,722 · see citing works
Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups
(2009) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.46-6491 · Cited by 1,932 · see citing works
Electronic Bullying Among Middle School Students
Kowalski, R. M., & Limber, S. P. (2007) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.08.017 · Cited by 1,580 · see citing works
A locus of control scale for children.
Nowicki, S., & Strickland, B. R. (1973) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0033978 · Cited by 1,551 · see citing works
Peer victimization and internalizing problems in children: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies
Reijntjes, A. H. A., Kamphuis, J. H., Prinzie, P., & Telch, M. J. (2010) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2009.07.009 · Cited by 1,439 · see citing works
Psychological, Physical, and Academic Correlates of Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying
Kowalski, R. M., & Limber, S. P. (2013) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.09.018 · Cited by 1,295 · see citing works
The development of depression in children and adolescents.
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037//0003-066x.53.2.221 · Cited by 989 · see citing works
A multivariate model of gender differences in adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems.
Leadbeater, B. J. R., Kuperminc, G. P., Blatt, S. J., & Hertzog, C. K. (1999) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.35.5.1268 · Cited by 755 · see citing works
The development of depression in children and adolescents.
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.53.2.221 · Cited by 705 · see citing works
Understanding the psychology of bullying: Moving toward a social-ecological diathesis–stress model.
Swearer, S. M., & Hymel, S. C. (2015) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0038929 · Cited by 670 · see citing works
MicroRNA Related Polymorphisms and Breast Cancer Risk
Khan, S., Greco, D., Michailidou, K., Milne, R. L., Muranen, T., Heikkinen, T., Aaltonen, K., Dennis, J., Bolla, M. K., Liu, J., et al. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109973 · Cited by 638 · see citing works
McDougall, P., & Vaillancourt, T. (2015) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0039174 · Cited by 598 · see citing works
Dishion, T. J., Shaw, D. S., Connell, A. M., Gardner, F. E. M., Weaver, C. M., & Wilson, M. N. (2008) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01195.x · Cited by 594 · see citing works
A multivariate model of gender differences in adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems.
Leadbeater, B. J. R., Kuperminc, G. P., Blatt, S. J., et al. (1999) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.35.5.1268 · Cited by 573 · see citing works
The Overlap Between Cyberbullying and Traditional Bullying
Waasdorp, T. E., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2015) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.12.002 · Cited by 534 · see citing works
Reijntjes, A. H. A., Kamphuis, J. H., Prinzie, P., Boelen, P. A., van der Schoot, M., & Telch, M. J. (2010) · Aggressive Behavior · doi:10.1002/ab.20374 · Cited by 497 · see citing works
Twenge, J. M., Zhang, L., & Im, C. (2004) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0803_5 · Cited by 442 · see citing works
Campbell, M. A., Spears, B. A., Slee, P. T., Butler, D., & Kift, S. (2012) · Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties · doi:10.1080/13632752.2012.704316 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
Kochel, K. P., Ladd, G. W., & Rudolph, K. D. (2012) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01722.x · Cited by 335 · see citing works
The Comorbidity of Conduct Problems and Depression in Childhood and Adolescence
Wolff, J. C., & Ollendick, T. H. (2006) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-006-0011-3 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Kim, K. J., Conger, R. D., Elder, G. H., & Lorenz, F. O. (2003) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00525 · Cited by 320 · see citing works
Fisher, B. W., Gardella, J. H., & Teurbe-Tolon, A. R. (2016) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-016-0541-z · Cited by 288 · see citing works
Galvin, B. M., Randel, A. E., Collins, B. J., & Johnson, R. E. (2018) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2275 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Cui, M., Donnellan, M. B., & Conger, R. D. (2007) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1544 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Gini, G., Card, N. A., & Pozzoli, T. (2017) · Aggressive Behavior · doi:10.1002/ab.21742 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Identifying Critical Points of Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms from Childhood to Young Adulthood
Kwong, A. S. F., Manley, D., Timpson, N. J., Pearson, R. M., Heron, J., Sallis, H., Stergiakouli, E., Davis, O. S. P., & Leckie, G. (2019) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-018-0976-5 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Kim, S., Colwell, S. R., Kata, A., Boyle, M. H., & Georgiades, K. (2018) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-017-0678-4 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Gutman, L. M., & Mcmaster, N. C. (2020) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/s10802-020-00623-w · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Human Face Recognition in Horses: Data in Favor of a Holistic Process
Lansade, L., Colson, V., Parias, C., Reigner, F., Bertin, A., & Calandreau, L. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575808 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Stability and Changes in Problem Behavior During Adolescence: Latent Growth Analysis
Deković, M., Buist, K. L., & Reitz, E. (2003) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1023/a:1027305312204 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
Life stress and suicide in adolescents
Stewart, J. G., Shields, G. S., Esposito, E. C., Cosby, E. A., Allen, N. B., Slavich, G. M., & Auerbach, R. P. (2019) · Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10802-019-00534-5 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Godinet, M. T., Li, F., & Berg, T. (2013) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.07.018 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
El‐Sheikh, M., Hinnant, J. B., & Erath, S. A. (2010) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0020626 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Cole, D. A., Zelkowitz, R. L., Nick, E., Martin, N. C., Roeder, K. M., Sinclair-McBride, K., & Spinelli, T. (2016) · Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10802-015-0123-7 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Schwartz, D., Lansford, J. E., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2014) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2014.881293 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Internalizing Disorders in Children and Adolescents
(2007) · Psychopathology · doi:10.4324/9780203935071-24 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Brennan, L. M., Shaw, D. S., Dishion, T. J., & Wilson, M. N. (2012) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/s10802-012-9639-2 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Longitudinal associations among neuroticism, depression, and cyberbullying in early adolescents
Zhang, D., Huebner, E. S., & Tian, L. (2020) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106475 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Self-citationDuchesne, S., & Ratelle, C. F. (2013) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-013-0029-z · Cited by 98 · see citing works
A Meta-Analysis of Universal School-Based Prevention Programs for Anxiety and Depression in Children
Johnstone, K. M., Kemps, E., & Chen, J. (2018) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-018-0266-5 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Salmivalli, C., Sainio, M., & Hodges, E. V. E. (2013) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2012.759228 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Hemphill, S. A., Kotevski, A., & Heerde, J. A. (2015) · International Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1007/s00038-014-0644-9 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Wang, L., Feng, Z., Yang, G., Yang, Y., Wang, K., Dai, Q., Zhao, M., Hu, C., Zhang, R., Liu, K., et al. (2016) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.050 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders among Children and Adolescents in Northeast China
Xiaoli, Y., Jiang, C., Wen, P., Xu, W., Fang, L., Li, N., Mu, H., Na, J., Ming, L., An, X., et al. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111223 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Lee, E. J., & Stone, S. I. (2011) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-011-9700-4 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Internalizing disorders in children and adolescents
van der Doef, P. L. M. (1993) · Kind en adolescent · doi:10.1007/bf03060498 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
The impact of early alleged maltreatment on behavioral trajectories
Thompson, R., & Tabone, J. K. (2010) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2010.06.006 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Giumetti, G. W., & Kowalski, R. M. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-25552-1_6 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Physical and Relational Victimization, and Children’sEmotional Adjustment in Middle Childhood
Zhang, W., Liang, C. H. E. N., Ji, L., et al. (2009) · Acta Psychologica Sinica · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1041.2009.00433 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Papachristou, E., & Flouri, E. (2019) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579419001330 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Holfeld, B., & Mishna, F. (2019) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-018-0974-7 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Chen, L., Zhang, W., Ji, L., et al. (2018) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.13090 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Pan, Y., Yang, C., Liu, G., Chan, M. M., Liu, C., & Zhang, D. (2019) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.13319 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
de Lijster, J. M., van den Dries, M. A., van der Ende, J., Utens, E. M. W. J., Jaddoe, V. W. V., Dieleman, G. C., Hillegers, M. H. J., Tiemeier, H. W., & Legerstee, J. S. (2019) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/s10802-019-00550-5 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Sullivan, S. A., Thompson, A., Kounali, D., Lewis, G., & Zammit, S. (2017) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-017-1359-z · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Wu, Y., Zhao, X. Y., Li, Y.-F., Ding, X., Yang, H., Bi, P., & Sun, Y. (2016) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2015.08.046 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Direct and indirect relationship between locus of control and depression
Yu, X., & Fan, G. (2014) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/1359105314551624 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Ahlin, E. M. (2014) · Journal of Interpersonal Violence · doi:10.1177/0886260513520505 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Pace, U., D’Urso, G., & Zappulla, C. (2018) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2018.10.030 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Children’s Exposure to Violence and the Intersection Between Delinquency and Victimization
Cuevas, C. A., David Finkelhor, B., Shattuck, A., Turner, H. A., & Hamby, S. L. (2015) · Apple Academic Press eBooks · doi:10.1201/b18768-11 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Flores, J., Caqueo‐Urízar, A., Ramírez, C., Arancio, G., & Cofré, J. P. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02015 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Stiglbauer, B. (2016) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.2165 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Relations Between Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Early Childhood
Stone, L. L., Otten, R., Engels, R. C. M. E., Kuijpers, R., & Janssens, J. (2015) · Child & Youth Care Forum · doi:10.1007/s10566-014-9296-4 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Locus of control, depression, and quality of life in Parkinson’s Disease
Zampieri, M., & de Souza, E. A. P. (2011) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/1359105310397220 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Spinning Our Wheels: Improving Our Ability to Respond to Bullying and Cyberbullying
Englander, E. (2011) · Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.chc.2011.08.013 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Li, H., & Prevatt, F. F. (2007) · The Journal of Genetic Psychology · doi:10.3200/gntp.168.4.381-400 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Predicting therapy duration from therapist experience and client psychopathology
Renk, K., Dinger, T. M., & Bjugstad, K. B. (2000) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/1097-4679(200012)56:12 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Tao, Z., Wang, Z., Lan, Y., Zhang, W., & Qiu, B. (2025) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-025-22628-0 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“The YSR has been used to measure internalizing problems and showed great reliability and validity in a previous Chinese study [50].”
- Authors
- Gong, X., Huebner, E. S., & Tian, L.
- Affiliations
- South China Normal University (CN)
- University of South Carolina (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tian, Lili
- Venue
- Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
- Published
- 2021-01-06
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 351-366
- ISSN
- 0091-0627 (ISSN-L)
- 2730-7166
- 2730-7174
- OpenAlex
- W3120062145
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 76
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Workplace Violence and Bullying
- Keywords
- bullying victimization, cyberbullying, traditional bullying, locus of control, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, developmental trajectories, moderating effect, gender differences, elementary school students, Chinese children
- MeSH terms
- Cyberbullying, Child, Humans, Internal-External Control, Longitudinal Studies, Crime Victims, Bullying
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
