Coping strategy, Well-being, and bullying perpetration in primary schools: a longitudinal mediation model

Ample evidence shows that school bullying remains a major social problem worldwide which brings negative physical and psychological outcomes for both bullies and victims. Although poor well-being has been considered a risk factor that reinforces aggressive and bullying behaviors among youth, limited research has focused on investigating how well-being influences bullying perpetration and how coping strategies mediate the relationship between the two remains unknown. Guided by the general strain theory and empirical findings, this study collected data from 920 primary school students (57.6% male; Mage = 10.88; SD = 1.25) through a two-wave longitudinal survey and identified significant relationships between well-being and bullying perpetration. The results showed that mental distress ( β = 0.174; p