A comparative study of youth victimization during COVID-19 lockdowns in Mexico and Russia

Psychology, Society and Education. 2022. Vol. 14. No. 3. P. 38–47.

Bochaver A. A., Navarro-Rodríguez C. D., Korneev A., Lagarda Á., Khlomov K., Vera Á., Bauman S.

This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic school closures on peer victimization in Mexico

and Russia. In addition to effects on academic performance and attendance, the lockdowns interfered with

usual peer socialization experiences and interactions. We examined the effects on the problem of bullying

victimization. Since all measures were originally in English, factorial invariance was established at the

outset. Comparisons by country for frequency of victimization, type of victimization, harmfulness of the

victimization experiences, location of the victimization, and relationships to the perpetrator, were calculated.

Although the countries were similar in many ways, significant differences were detected on several items; one

notable difference was the relationship to the perpetrator. In Mexico, the most common bully was siblings,

while in Russia, the highest rank was for parents. Significant differences reflected the cultural contexts of each

country; these cultural influences are discussed.

Keywords: Россия, кросс-культурные исследования, Мексика, Russia, Cross-cultural, Mexico, буллинг, bullying, victimization, виктимизация, perpetrator, агрессор, lockdown, локдаун, Online-victimization, онлайн-виктимизация, COVID-19