Title: The moderating role of family resilience in the relationship of bullying victimization, adverse childhood experiences, and poverty status to adolescents internalizing disorders

Abstract

Objectives: The present study aimed toexplore whether family resilience would moderate the effects ofbullying victimization, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs),and poverty status on adolescent internalizing disorders. Methods: Thisstudy used the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH)and included 20,708 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years (M = 14.7,SD = 1.70). Internalizing disorders indicated adolescents’ depression and anxiety problems and were measured by summing two items (scoring from 0 to 2) (α = .72). Bullying victimizationwas measured with one item(0=no, 1=yes). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were measured with nine questions (income hardship, divorce, death, jail, domestic violence, neighborhood violence, mental illness, drug use, and discrimination)(0=no, 1=yes). This study summed theitems ranging from 0 to 9. Higher scores indicated more exposure to ACE.Poverty status was measured with the federal poverty level (FPL), which isan economic measure that decided whether the income level of families wasbelow the poverty line (Branum et al., 2012).Family resilience was measured by four items(scoring from 0 to 3).This study calculated the sum of the items ranging from 0 to 12. Thus, higherscores indicated higher family resilience(α = .89). For statistical analysis, hierarchical multiple regression was conducted toexamine the relationship of bullying victimization, ACEs, andpoverty status with adolescents’ internalizing disorders andexplore the moderating role of family resilience on that relationship. Findings:The study found positive associations of bullying victimization,ACEs, and poverty status with adolescents’ internalizingdisorders. Family resilience moderated the effects of bullyingvictimization and ACEs on adolescents’ internalizing disorders. Conclusion: The findings suggest that to prevent adolescents’ internalizingdisorders, it is critical to promote family resilience and reducebullying victimization, ACEs, and poverty.