Bullying links to substance use, with patterns varying by identity

Bullying victimization is found to be associated with substance use, and this association is relevant to racial/ethnic minority and sexual minority (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) adolescents. However, few studies have focused on the role of intersectionality in the linkage between bullying victimization and substance use. The current research explores the relationship between school- and cyberbullying victimization and various types of substance use among a racially/ethnically diverse sample of heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents. The 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Combined High School Dataset was used. The sample consisted of 12,713 White, Black, and Hispanic heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents. School bullying victimization was associated with higher alcohol, marijuana, and opioid use, but lower tobacco use, whereas cyberbullying victimization was associated with higher use of all substances examined. Interaction analyses indicated that Hispanic bisexual and Hispanic heterosexual adolescents experienced steeper increases in the predicted probability of alcohol use associated with bullying victimization and cyberbullying victimization compared to White heterosexual adolescents. In addition, Hispanic heterosexual identity moderated the associations between school bullying victimization and opioid use, as well as between cyberbullying victimization and tobacco use.