Bullying Victimization and Internalizing Problems of Children with Disabilities: The Moderating Role of Family Strengths

The current study examines the buffering role of family strengths, such as parental competence and parent-youth time spent together, in the linkage between bullying victimization and internalizing problems of children with multiple types of disabilities. Data was derived from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health. The analytic sample included 5,080 participants who responded to all relevant items. A latent class analysis was conducted to classify the types of disabilities, and latent profile analysis was used to classify types of family strengths. Bullying victimization was positively associated with internalizing problems, especially among children with multiple types of disabilities (i.e., developmental + speech + learning) (B = 0.844, p <.001). Moreover, children with multiple types of disabilities had the highest percentage of bullying victimization (54%) and internalizing problems (41%) compared to those with only one type of disability. Family strengths moderated the association between bullying victimization and internalizing problems among children with multiple types of disabilities (B = -1.436, p =.023). Findings suggest that family strengths can buffer the negative effects of bullying among children with disabilities.