Armen A. Torchyan, Inge Houkes, Hans Bosma
BACKGROUND: We aimed to study the role of income inequality in socioeconomic differences in bullying perpetration among adolescents in Europe/Canada by testing the "golden youth" hypothesis, which suggests that bullying perpetration may be more prevalent among affluent adolescents in countries with higher income inequality. METHODS: This cross-sectional multilevel analysis included nationally representative samples of 117,238 adolescents aged 11-15 from 22 countries/regions in Europe/Canada participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey during 2017-2018. Multilevel logistic regression models were employed. RESULTS: On average, adolescents with a high socioeconomic position (SEP) showed 11% greater odds (P = 0.034) of bullying perpetration compared to their peers from middle-SEP families but 14% lower odds (P < 0.001) than adolescents from low-SEP families. However, as country income inequality (Gini index) increased, the likelihood of bullying perpetration among high-SEP adolescents significantly increased (P-interaction < 0.001) compared to their peers from low-SEP families. Model-based odds ratios comparing high-SEP with low-SEP adolescents were 0.58 at the lowest observed Gini value, 0.84 at the mean Gini value, and 1.19 at the highest observed Gini value. CONCLUSIONS: In this cross-sectional multilevel analysis of adolescents in Europe and Canada, country-level income inequality was associated with differences in the socioeconomic patterning of bullying perpetration. Within the observed range of Gini values, higher income inequality was associated with relatively higher odds of bullying perpetration among high-SEP adolescents compared with low-SEP adolescents. These findings suggest that broader socioeconomic context may be relevant for understanding bullying perpetration, but longitudinal and mechanism-focused studies are needed to clarify causal pathways.