Income and Gender Inequalities, Country-level Social Support, Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimisation : A Multilevel Cross-National Study

Prior research suggests that adolescents who live in countries with high levels of income and gender inequalities are more likely to be at high risks of violent and property victimisation. However, research has not largely examined how income and gender inequalities would influence traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimisation. Extant literature indicates that social support can moderate the association of income and gender inequalities with victimisation. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how health and education expenditure can moderate such relationships. Country-level data were combined with data from 158,117 and 162,792 adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 in the 2014 and 2018 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) surveys from 27 European countries. Multilevel binary logistic regression analyses examined the influence of income and gender inequalities on traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimisation, and the moderating role of country-level social support in these associations.

Findings suggest that high levels of income and gender inequalities were associated with increased odds of traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimisation. The findings signify that adolescents who live in countries with higher levels of income and gender inequalities are more likely to be victims of bullying than those in countries with lower levels of income and gender inequalities. Findings demonstrate that income and gender inequalities were significantly related to traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimisation among adolescents with low levels of social support. The findings expand extant literature on the influence of income and gender inequalities on bullying victimisation, and the buffering effects of health and education expenditure in such associations.