How does parent–child attachment moderate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and school bullying in Chinese adolescents: A large cross-sectional study.

Psychology of Violence, Nov 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/vio0000616

Objective: This study aims to examine relationships between cumulative adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and different forms of bullying victimization and further explore the moderating role of parent–child attachment on these relationships. Method: This cross-sectional survey was carried out in a northwest province of China from 23 May to 23 June 2022. A total of 20,341 subjects from schools were included in the final analysis. Hierarchical regression analysis models were used to explore the link between cumulative ACEs and three forms of bullying victimization. Latent profile analysis was employed to identify parent–child attachment patterns. The interaction of cumulative ACEs with parent–child attachment dimensions and patterns was then separately introduced into hierarchical regression analysis models to evaluate their moderating role on the relationship between cumulative ACEs and bullying. Results: We found that cumulative ACEs had a significant positive relationship with all forms of bullying victimization. Attachment anxiety toward mothers was more strongly associated with all forms of bullying victimization compared to attachment anxiety toward fathers. In contrast, attachment avoidance toward fathers had a stronger association with each form of bullying victimization than attachment avoidance toward mothers. Attachment anxiety toward fathers and attachment avoidance to fathers and mothers enhanced the relationship between cumulative ACEs and social bullying victimization. Furthermore, students having anxious attachment patterns with both parents and more ACE experienced more physical and social bullying victimization. Conclusions: Our findings emphasized the importance of bullying prevention and intervention strategies based on home-school collaboration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)