Parental Neglect and Adolescent Bullying Involvement: Examining a Potential Psychological Pathway and Sociodemographic Differences

Parental neglect has been linked to adolescents' involvement in adverse peer interactions, such as bullying victimization and aggressive behaviours. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying the association between parental neglect and bullying involvement, as well as potential heterogeneity across sociodemographic groups, remain insufficiently explored. This study examined whether coping self-efficacy mediated the associations between parental neglect and adolescents' bullying involvement and explored potential differences by rural–urban group and gender. Data were collected from 629 Chinese adolescents (48.97% male; M age = 14.05 years) across two waves with a 6-month interval. Half-longitudinal mediation analyses identified significant indirect effects. Parental neglect significantly predicted lower coping self-efficacy, which was in turn associated with higher levels of bullying victimization and aggression among adolescents. Path-specific Wald tests suggested marginal differences in two structural pathways by rural–urban group, whereas no significant between-group differences were detected by gender. These findings highlight coping self-efficacy as a potentially important psychological resource in efforts to prevent bullying involvement.