Longitudinal relations between bullying victimization and aggression: The multiple mediation effects of anger rumination and hostile automatic thoughts

Abstract Bullying victimization is widely accepted to be associated with aggression. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown. To examine the long‐term impact of bullying victimization on aggression, the present study tested the potential mediating effects of both anger rumination and hostile automatic thoughts. A total of 809 undergraduates from four universities across China (74.80% female; M age = 19.63 years, SD = 0.82 years) completed the survey on three occasions, with a 6‐month delay between Time 1 and Time 2 and a 1‐year interval between Time 2 and Time 3. A cross‐lagged model of anger rumination and hostile automatic thoughts was developed to test whether they predicted one another, and two structural models were constructed to test their mediating roles in bullying victimization and aggression. Findings indicated that anger rumination and hostile automatic thoughts are mutually predictable; the correlation between bullying victimization and aggression is mediated independently by anger rumination and hostile automatic thoughts, and the chain mediation of bullying victimization predicting aggression first through anger rumination and then through hostile automatic thinking was established. In addition, an alternative mediation model is also significant, with hostile automatic thoughts as the primary mediator and anger rumination as the secondary mediator. These results highlight the significance of anger rumination and hostile automatic thoughts in the long‐term effects of bullying victimization on aggression. Interventions designed to reduce undergraduate students' anger rumination and hostile automatic thoughts may help reduce their aggression.