Tổng quan / Research Overall
Cơ sở lý luận của nghiên cứu / Rationales of the study
Psychological violence is a particularly under-addressed form of school violence, which is still a persistent and alarming global concern. About one in three students between the ages of 13 and 15 worldwide have been victims of bullying, according to UNICEF’s Behind the Numbers report (2018). Some of these bullying experiences include non-physical forms like verbal harassment, exclusion, and psychological manipulation. Despite efforts to create safer school environments, the issue attracted a lot of public attention in Vietnam because of its pernicious prevalence. More than 2,600 incidents of school violence with varying degrees of psychological complexity were reported in recent years, according to data from the Ministry of Education and Training (Đại biểu Nhân dân, 2023). Although it is widely acknowledged that physical harassment and psychological abuse are both included in school violence, the latter is still significantly under-recognized because of its covert and cumulative nature. Unlike physical violence, which typically provokes immediate responses, psychological violence tends to present beneath the surface, gradually embedding itself into the school environment and becoming normalized or overlooked. Repeated exposure to such aggression blunts students’ emotional reactions and diminishes empathy, such that youth with high levels of real-life violence exposure report lower distress when confronted with new violent stimuli and reduced concern for victims (Mrug et al., 2014). Moreover, persistent, chronic exposure to community violence leads many youth to become desensitized or emotionally numb to violence over time (Kennedy & Ceballo, 2016), with anxiety and depression weakening through habituation even as aggression steadily increases (Gaylord-Harden et al., 2017). This concern is exacerbated by the developmental vulnerability of students in lower secondary education. As widely documented in developmental psychology, adolescence is marked by profound neuropsychological transformations, particularly during puberty, which heighten emotional sensitivity, social reactivity, and identity fragility (Spear LP, 2009). Studies show that adolescents exhibit increased stress responsivity and heightened neural sensitivity to social evaluation (Somerville, 2013), rendering them particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of psychological aggression, such as bullying and exclusion. In fact, a recent survey involving over 95,000 adolescents demonstrated a notable correlation between psychological bullying and severe mental health consequences, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD (Zhou et al., 2023). These findings underscore the urgent necessity to address psychological violence as a serious and pernicious risk to the wellbeing of adolescents. Accordingly, this study seeks to address an urgent practical need: to facilitate early intervention and prevention of psychological violence during the turning-point period of junior high school. While existing frameworks emphasize prevention from administrative or teacher-led perspectives, this research foregrounds the lived psychological experience of students themselves, aiming to contextualize psychological violence not as an isolated behavioral issue but as a systemic challenge embedded in developmental and cultural factors. Investigating these relationships is crucial for both validating the severity of psychological abuse and developing context-sensitive strategies that improve students’ resilience, well-being, and secure learning environments over time.
Tổng quan tài liệu / Literature review.
Extant research converges on a multilevel array of risk factors that render adolescents vulnerable to psychological bullying. At the individual level, internalizing difficulties – helplessness, depressive mood, anxiety, and low self‐esteem – both predispose youth to victimization and emerge as sequelae of peer aggression, creating a self‐reinforcing vulnerability loop (Reijntjes et al., 2010). Social isolation and the absence of a close, reciprocated friendship significantly heighten victimization risk by depriving students of critical emotional support and buffering against peer harm (Boulton et al., 1999). Within the family, exposure to interparental conflict, harsh or neglectful parenting, and domestic violence normalizes aggression and undermines children’s coping skills, further increasing their susceptibility to bullying (Hong & Espelage, 2012; Lereya, Samara & Wolke, 2013). At school, a negative teacher–student relationship – marked by conflict, lack of support, or punitive interactions – exacerbates feelings of helplessness and isolates victims, while inadequate adult supervision in unstructured settings allows covert aggression to flourish (Díaz-Aguado & Martínez, 2013; Saarento et al., 2013). Finally, broader community and cultural influences—such as exposure to neighborhood violence, societal acceptance of aggression, and competitive norms—serve to legitimize bullying behaviors and erode communal deterrents to victimization (Ferrara et al., 2019). At the individual level, a range of behavioral and emotional problems markedly increases the risk of involvement in psychological bullying. A systematic review by Álvarez-García et al. (2015), titled Predictors of School Bullying Perpetration: A Systematic Review, identified conduct problems, social difficulties, and school-related issues as consistent predictors of bullying, with social problems exerting a medium effect size, and older age serving as a modest protective factor. Externalizing traits such as impulsivity, hyperactivity, sensation-seeking, and lack of empathy were found to significantly increase the odds of perpetration. Meanwhile, a meta-analysis by Reijntjes et al. (2010), Peer Victimization and Internalizing Problems in Children: A Meta-Analysis, demonstrated that internalizing symptoms – helplessness, insecurity, depressive mood, and anxiety – not only predict victimization but also result from it, forming a self-perpetuating cycle. Collectively, these individual-level factors were shown to account for over one-third of the causal variance in bullying dynamics, highlighting the critical need for early screening and preventative programs focused on emotional regulation and social skill development. Family environments further shape bullying dynamics. Harsh, authoritarian parenting practices – characterized by punitive discipline and limited emotional support – correlate with elevated perpetration rates, whereas exposure to interparental conflict or domestic violence normalizes aggressive conflict resolution and diminishes children’s social coping skills (Hong & Espelage, 2012). In contrast, authoritative parenting – marked by warmth, clear communication, and consistent supervision – serves as a modest protective factor, fostering emotional regulation and pro‐social problem solving that resist peer victimization (Lereya, Samara & Wolke, 2013). Within the peer milieu, both social isolation and peer group norms critically influence psychological bullying. Adolescents lacking a close, reciprocated friendship are significantly more prone to victimization, as loneliness undermines resilience and discourages bystander intervention (Boulton, Trueman & Flemington, 1999). Simultaneously, inclusion in dense peer networks can inadvertently reinforce bullying behavior: Barboza et al. (2009) found that each additional friend increased the odds of perpetration by facilitating group‐based aggression and legitimizing dominance displays. At the institutional level, schools that lack comprehensive anti‐bullying policies, fail to enforce clear sanctions, or provide inadequate adult supervision, particularly in unstructured settings such as hallways and cafeterias, create permissive contexts for covert aggression (Díaz‐Aguado & Martínez, 2013). Moreover, the nature of teacher–student relationships exerts a strong influence: supportive, affectionate interactions deter both perpetration and victimization, whereas conflictual or neglectful teacher behaviors exacerbate bullying dynamics (Scholte, Sentse & Granic, 2010). While global research has extensively documented the mechanisms and impacts of psychological bullying, there remains a pressing need to contextualize these findings within specific national settings. In Vietnam, emerging studies and localized investigations have begun to shed light on how psychological violence manifests uniquely within the country’s educational and socio-cultural landscape. According to N.N. Phu (2021), school violence today not only involves physical fights or verbal abuse but also takes newer forms such as social exclusion, humiliation, threats, and cyberbullying. Alarmingly, psychological violence frequently occurs at the lower secondary level, where students are undergoing puberty, experiencing emotional instability, and lacking full awareness and self-regulation, all while facing increasing academic, peer, and family pressures. A recent survey conducted in lower secondary schools, as reported in the study by Dalat University (2024), revealed that over 60% of students had either witnessed or experienced at least one form of psychological violence in school. The most common forms include body shaming, being given offensive nicknames, exclusion from social groups, and the spread of harmful rumors. Social media also plays a significant role in amplifying psychological violence, enabling students to easily attack, mock, or shame peers through public or anonymous posts. In a 2023 article published by Lao Động, psychologist Nguyen Thi Tam warned, “We are underestimating the damage caused by seemingly trivial actions. A sarcastic remark or a private chat group used to ostracize someone can deeply wound a child’s emerging sense of self-worth.” This shows that psychological violence is no longer an isolated issue in a few schools but a widespread and complex phenomenon across the education system, particularly at the middle school level. However, the corpus of research exhibits notable methodological constraints. Predominantly cross-sectional in design, many studies capture only a temporal snapshot of associations between risk factors and bullying, precluding causal inference and obscuring developmental trajectories. Convenience samples, often drawn from a limited number of schools or regions, further constrain generalizability and may fail to reflect the diverse experiences of secondary school populations. Additionally, the literature has tended to prioritize individual and family-level predictors, with insufficient qualitative exploration of how school culture, peer narratives, and student voices shape the lived experience of psychological bullying. Besides, while existing literature paints psychological bullying as a multifaceted phenomenon rooted in ecological interactions, methodological limitations persist: most studies are cross-sectional and Western-centric, sample only a few schools, raising difficulties and concerns as to contextualizing the phenomenon in Asian settings, and rarely integrate developmental transitions such as puberty. Our mixed-methods, longitudinal design overcomes these constraints by tracking cohorts through the key pubertal stage, embedding consultation from a military-academy psychologist with sampling across diverse socio-economic contexts. This approach not only strengthens causal inference and generalizability but also surfaces nuanced contextual dynamics, such as classroom norms and teacher responses, and quantifies the relative contributions of individual, familial, peer, and institutional factors. By doing so, it advances both the academic understanding and the practical roadmap for mitigating psychological bullying in secondary schools. Grounded in the multilevel nature of these findings, the present study adopts two core theoretical perspectives: Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (1977; 1986) and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1977; 1995). These frameworks provide a conceptual basis for comprehending how personal vulnerabilities and actions interact with larger social and environmental systems to influence psychological violence experiences and perpetuation in secondary school settings.
Ý nghĩa khoa học
This research recognizes that while previous studies have greatly advanced our understanding of psychological bullying, they often fall short in methodological breadth, cultural specificity, and the direct translation of findings into tailored interventions. Our research distinguishes itself by integrating a robust mixed-methods design – pairing a large-scale survey with the counselling from a psychologist expert to build up the questionnaire model, to validate research methodologies, and to produce a hierarchically weighted model of causal factors. Moreover, by situating Hanoi-region data within both national statistics and international benchmarks with the participation from distinct and selective secondary school modalities, we deliver insights that are simultaneously globally informed and deeply rooted in Vietnam’s unique educational context. Besides, every recommendation we propose emerges directly from our empirical findings, creating a seamless “data → action” pathway that transforms abstract theory into concrete solutions for schools, families, and policymakers. Specifically, while international reports (UNICEF, 2021; UNESCO, 2019) often lack Vietnam‐specific nuance, and Vietnamese studies tend to omit broad comparisons, our research bridges this gap by situating local incident data (e.g., Ministry of Education statistics) alongside global benchmarks. This comparative lens reveals both convergences, such as the prominence of emotional abuse, and divergences, such as unique parental‐involvement patterns in Hanoi, that highlight the importance of culturally contextualized interventions. Thereby, this research aims to provide a more holistic and divergent perspective to the global research landscape on discovering and ameliorating the phenomenon of school victimization and penetration. It also strives to tackle some weaknesses and vacuums overlooked or non-focused by the existing research. Ultimately, the integration and compilation of this research into other international studies and research assists in promoting multi-dimensional and trans-national/continental perspectives on the causality of school bullying, through which future research may potentially compare, contrast, and synthesize precedent research to discard inefficient and illogical approaches and elements, thus improving the qualitative and quantitative results of their studies. Also, unlike prior studies that append generic recommendations, our work maps each proposed strategy (e.g., teacher training enhancements, streamlined reporting protocols, parent-guided resilience exercises) directly to specific survey results, such as high “incorrect” responses on parental mental-bullying education and variability in teacher engagement. This “data → solution” pipeline ensures that interventions target the most influential causes identified in our hierarchical model, offering practitioners a clear, evidence-anchored roadmap to prevent psychological bullying in Vietnamese secondary schools based on the analysis of the specific manifestations of macro, micro, and exo causal contributions.