Abstract
Material deprivation is often hypothesized to be directly linked with children’s school bullying victimization and their subjective well-being. However, studies do not consistently support this hypothesis. Furthermore, the quality of children’s social relationships with family, peers, and teachers have been suggested as potential mediators of material deprivation, school bullying victimization, and subjective well-being. However, studies supporting such proposition are lacking. Using a global sample of 73,182 children aged 10 and 12 years from 25 countries/regions in the third wave of an International Survey of Children’s Well-Being, the present study examined a model of how quality of family-child, peer, and teacher-child relationships mediate the association of material deprivation with school bullying victimization and subjective well-being. The results show that the proposed model is applicable to each country and to different sex and age groups globally. It is also consistently found that among all countries, the family-child relationship is the strongest mediator between material deprivation and subjective well-being, while peer relationship is the strongest mediator between material deprivation and school victimization. These findings imply that although each country has different cultural, political, and economic backgrounds and social welfare systems, once children experience material deprivation, regardless of the country where they live, the quality of their relationships with family, peers, and teachers is likely to be deteriorated, which in turn reduces their subjective well-being and increases their risk of being bullied at school. In particular, children would most likely to experience low levels of subjective well-being through poor family-child relationships and most likely to experience school victimization through poor peer relationships. Our findings provide evidence for policymakers and practitioners worldwide, supporting efforts to improve the quality of social relationships among economically deprived children in order to reduce negative effects of material deprivation on children's school bullying victimization and subjective well-being.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baffour, T. (2017). Addressing the social determinants of behavioral health for racial and ethnic minorities. Journal of Best Practices in Health Professions Diversity, 10(2), 111–126.
Barrientos, A., & DeJong, J. (2006). Reducing child poverty with cash transfers: A sure thing? Development Policy Review, 24, 537–552.
Bell, R. (2017). Psychosocial pathways and health outcomes: Informing action on health inequalities. Public Health England (PHE)/UCL Institute of Health Equity.
Bilic, V. (2015). The role of socioeconomic differences and material deprivation in peer violence. Epiphany (Sarajevo), 8(2), 177–202. https://doi.org/10.21533/epiphany.v8i2.169
Bonner, A. (2018). Social determinants of health: An interdisciplinary approach to social inequality and well-being. Policy Press.
Borualogo, I. S., & Casas, F. (2021). Subjective well-being of bullied children in Indonesia. Applied Research Quality Life, 16, 753–773. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-019-09778-1
Bradshaw, J., Keung, A., Rees, G., & Goswami, H. (2011). Children’s subjective well-being: International comparative perspectives. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(4), 548–556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.05.010
Briggs, H., Miller, S., & Campbell, R. (2014). Introduction: Disparity-inducing social determinants of behavioral health: Future directions through best practices in mental health. Best Practices in Mental Health, 10(2), xi-xvii(7).
Byrne, B.M. (2016). Structural Equation Modeling With AMOS: Basic Concepts, Applications, and Programming, Third Edition (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Casas, F., & González-Carrasco, M. (2021). Analysing comparability of four multi-item well- being psychometric scales among 35 countries using Children’s Worlds 3rd wave 10 and 12-year-olds samples. Child Indicators Research, 14, 1829–1861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09825-0
Chen, J. K., Wang, S. C., Chen, Y. W., & Huang, T. H. (2021a). Family climate, social relationships with peers and teachers at school, and school victimization among third grade students in elementary schools in Taiwan. School Mental Health, 13, 452–461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-020-09404-8
Chen, J. K., Wang, Z., Wong, H., & Tang, V. (2021b). Child deprivation as a mediator of the relationships between family poverty, bullying victimization, and psychological distress. Child Indicators Research, 14(5), 2001–2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09835-y
Chen, K. M. (2020). Subjective poverty, deprivation, and the subjective well-being of children and young people: A multilevel growth curve analysis in Taiwan. Children and Youth Services Review, 114(2), 105045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105045
Cho, E. (2018). Links between poverty and children’s subjective wellbeing: Examining the mediating and moderating role of relationships. Child Indicators Research, 11(2), 585–607. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-017-9453-z
Chui, W. H., & Wong, M. Y. (2016). Gender differences in happiness and life satisfaction among adolescents in Hong Kong: Relationships and self-concept. Social Indicators Research, 125(3), 1035–1051. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0867-z
Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., & Martin, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic Status, Family Processes, and Individual Development. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 72(3), 685–704.
Gross-Manos, D., & Bradshaw, J. (2021). The association between the material well-being and the subjective well-being of children in 35 countries. Child Indicators Research, 15, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09860-x
Gross-Manos, D., & Ben-Arieh, A. (2017). How subjective well-being is associated with material deprivation and social exclusion in Israeli 12-Year-Olds. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 87(3), 274–290.
Hirani, S., Lasiuk, G., & Hegadoren, K. (2016). The intersection of gender and resilience. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 23(6–7), 455–467. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12313
Hjalmarsson, S. (2018). Poor kids? Economic resources and adverse peer relations in a nationally representative sample of Swedish adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47(1), 88–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0747-8
Hjalmarsson, S., & Mood, C. (2015). Do poorer youth have fewer friends? The role of household and child economic resources in adolescent school-class friendships. Children and Youth Services Review, 57, 201–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.08.013
Kaye-Tzadok, A., Ben-Arieh, A., & Kosher, H. (2019). Hope, material resources, and subjective well-being of 8-to 12-year-old children in Israel. Child Development, 90(2), 344–358. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13130
Lau, M., & Bradshaw, J. (2018). Material well-being, social relationships and children’s overall life satisfaction in Hong Kong. Child Indicators Research, 11(1), 185–205.
Lerner, R., & Steinberg, L. (2009). Handbook of adolescent psychology (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Main, G., Montserrat, C., Andresen, S., Bradshaw, J., & Lee, B. (2019). Inequality, material well-being, and subjective well-being: Exploring associations for children across 15 diverse countries. Children and Youth Services Review, 97, 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.06.033
Mastrotheodoros, S., Canário, C., Cristina Gugliandolo, M., Merkas, M., & Keijsers, L. (2020). Family functioning and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems: Disentangling between-, and within- family associations. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49, 804–817. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01094-z
Rees, G., Savahl, S., Lee, B. J., & Casas, F. (eds.), (2020). Children’s views on their lives and well-being in 35 countries: A report on the Children’s Worlds project, 2016–19. Jerusalem, Israel: Children’s Worlds Project (ISCWeB). https://isciweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Childrens-Worlds-Comparative-Report-2020.pdf
Reiss, F. (2013). Socioeconomic inequalities and mental health problems in children and adolescents: A systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 90, 24–31.
Stansfield, J., & Bell, R. (2019). Applying a psychosocial pathways model to improving mental health and reducing health inequalities: Practical approaches. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 65(2), 107–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764018823816
Tippett, N., & Wolke, D. (2014). Socioeconomic status and bullying: A meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 104(6), e48–e59.
Troop-Gordon, W., & Kopp, J. (2011). Teacher–child relationship quality and children’s peer victimization and aggressive behavior in late childhood. Social Development, 20(3), 536–561. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2011.00604.x
Turiel, E. (2002). The culture of morality: Social development, context, and conflict. Cambridge University Press.
Viner, R. M., Ozer, E. M., Denny, S., Marmot, M., Resnick, M., Fatusi, A., & Currie, C. (2012). Adolescence and the social determinants of health. The Lancet, 379(9826), 1641–1652. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60149-4
Walsh, S. D., Harel-Fisch, Y., & Fogel-Grinvald, H. (2010). Parents, teachers and peer relations as predictors of risk behaviors and mental well-being among immigrant and Israeli born adolescents. Social Science & Medicine, 70(7), 976–984.
World Health Organization. (2014). Social determinants of mental health. World Health Organization.
Yoo, J., & Choi, C. (2016). How do family economic contexts affect children’s subjective well- being? A study of South Korea. Child Indicators Research, 9(4), 949–970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-015-9358-7
Yoshikawa, H., Aber, J. L., & Beardslee, W. R. (2012). The effects of poverty on the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children and youth: Implications for prevention. American Psychologist, 67(4), 272–284. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028015
Zimmerman, A., Garman, E., Avendano-Pabon, M., Araya, R., Evans-Lacko, S., McDaid, D., Park, A. L., Hessel, P., Diaz, Y., Matijasevich, A., Ziebold, C., Bauer, A., Paula, C. S., & Lund, C. (2021). The impact of cash transfers on mental health in children and young people in low-income and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Global Health, 6(4), e004661. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004661
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the team from The Children’s Worlds: International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeb), which is supported by the Jacobs Foundation. The data used in this publication come from the third wave of Children’s Worlds project: An international survey of children’s lives and well-being (www.isciweb.org). The views expressed here are those of the author(s). They are not necessarily those of ISCWeB.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interests
Authors declare no conflict of interest.
Human Research
Authors declare that the study complied with human research ethics.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, JK., Wang, SC. & Chen, YW. Social Relationships as Mediators of Material Deprivation, School Bullying Victimization, and Subjective Well-Being among Children Across 25 Countries: A Global and Cross-National Perspective. Applied Research Quality Life 18, 2415–2440 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-023-10192-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-023-10192-x