The role of perfectionism in bullying: A cross-gender and cultural network analysis

Perfectionism has been found to associate with bullying experiences with the consequence of depression. The connection varies across contexts. The current study aimed to further explore the symptom-level dynamics between perfectionism, bullying experiences, and depression, with a particular emphasis on gender and cultural differences. A total of 3984 participants (aged 12–18 years) from Hong Kong, Taiwan, the UK, and the Netherlands self-reported their perfectionism traits, experiences of bullying perpetration and victimization in both traditional and cyber forms, and depressive symptoms. Partial correlation network models were used to examine these associations across gender and culture. The results revealed clear culture-specific and gender-specific roles of perfectionism in bullying. Specifically, high standard perfectionism and order perfectionism positively associated with greater risk of bullying victimization and perpetration, respectively, in girls and Western culture. Future bullying prevention programs might benefit from targeting perfectionism traits, particularly for girls and in Western cultural contexts.