The relationship between school bullying victimization and mental health among high school sexual minority students in China: A cross-sectional study.

Background: School bullying has become a matter of global concern for the general public. Sexual minority youth (SMY) may experience minority stress and victimization which are known to adversely affect mental health and happiness. However, a few scholars explored and linked sexual orientation with campus bullying, depression, and anxiety symptoms under the specific cultural background of China.

Objective: This study was to examine the effect of traditional and cyber bullying victimization on depression and anxiety among Chinese sexual minority adolescents.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey with a total of 3841 subjects among senior high school students in Hunan Province, China. Related information was collected through a series of self-reported questionnaires. The association between variables was examined via a set of logistic regressions.

Results: Homosexuality (OR: 6.398; 95 % CI: 3.321 to 12.325), bisexuality (OR: 3.146; 95 % CI: 1.499 to 6.603) and uncertainty of sexual orientation (OR: 2.341; 95 % CI: 1.516 to 3.615) were significantly associated with a combination of traditional and cyber bullying victimization. Compared to the heterosexual group, the sexual minority students, especially the bisexual students has a higher risk of depressive mood (OR: 2.349; 95 % CI: 1.664 to 3.316) and anxiety mood (OR: 3.049; 95 % CI: 2.150 to 4.324). Further multivariate binary hierarchical regression showed that the effects of sexual orientation and mental health were statistically significant only among those who are not involved in bullying victimization, OR values are from 1.929 (95 % CI: 1.061 to 3.507) to 3.209 (95 % CI: 2.090 to 4.927).

Conclusions: Homosexuals are most likely to be victims of a combination of traditional and cyber bullying victims. Bisexuals are most at risk for emotional problems. Sexual minorities in particular, showed differences in mental health risks between bullied and non-bullied groups. More attention needs to be paid to bullying and mental health among sexual minority students in China.