BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.18, No.1, 2024, BECE 1902 

 

 

 

 

Intergenerational Transmission of Violence – 

The Influence of Parental Abuse on Child Bullying 

Perpetration: An Analysis Based on the Latent 

Growth Model 

By Tan, D., Ding, W., Song, S., Wu, W. & Lin, X. 
Correspondence to: Wan Ding, Zhejiang Normal University, China. E-mail: 

dingwan@zjnu.edu.cn  

CHOOL bullying has been a concerning issue in many countries around 

the world. Bullying victimization can pose severe damage to the physical 

and mental health of primary and secondary school students or may even 

cause them psychological disorders and anti-social behaviors in adulthood. 

The examination of the regularities and factors related to bullying behavior 

of primary school students is conducive to the prevention and mitigation of 

the incidence of their bullying perpetration after they grow into adolescents. 

This study seeks to investigate the longitudinal effects of parental physical 

and psychological abuse on child bullying perpetration in the Chinese con-

text as well as the heterogeneity of these effects.  

Research Findings: 

 Parental physical and psychological abuse has the potential to in-

crease the child’ bullying behaviors, including physical, verbal, 

and relational bullying. The negative effect of parental psycho-

logical abuse can be delayed and become increasingly pro-

nounced over time. Meanwhile, there is no significant gender dif-

ference in the effect of parental physical and psychological abuse 

on child bully perpetration, indicating the universality of its harm 

among children of both sexes. 

 The incidence of physical, verbal, and relational bullying shows 

a declining tendency in primary school students as their grades 

advance, as the child gradually realizes the immorality and harm 

of bullying behavior, and in the meantime, moral education and 

anti-bullying education contribute to reducing child bullying per-

petration and victimization. Prior research suggests that physical 

bullying behavior progressively diminishes to zero as the child 

gets older, and that relational bullying behavior tends to increase 

in children in early adolescence, whereas this study finds that 

both physical and relational bullying perpetration decline with 

the growth of the child’s age. 

S 

mailto:dingwan@zjnu.edu.cn


 

Vol.18, No.1, 2024, BECE 1903 

 The initial level of bullying perpetration is significantly higher 

among boys than girls, albeit there is no gender difference in the 

growth rate between the three types of bullying behaviors. Paren-

tal physical and psychological maltreatment compromise the 

school’s effort to reduce the incidents of the three types of bully-

ing among pupils. The study emphasizes that parents should ac-

tively engage in training on home education to improve their re-

lationships with children and provide a healthy growth environ-

ment for them. 

 
Source: Psychological Development and Education, 2024; 2024(3):410-419.