Abstract
BACKGROUND: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of breakfast skipping among Chinese adolescents and to investigate the association between breakfast skipping and multiple forms of bullying victimization. METHODS: We used 2020/2021 data from the Database for Youth Health program in Shandong, China, and included 24,041 students in grades 7-12 in the analysis. Breakfast skipping was defined as the self-reported omission of breakfast daily in the past 7 days. We compared the prevalence of breakfast skipping between bullied and non-bullied students, then estimated the adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between breakfast skipping and multiple forms of bullying victimization after adjusting for potential covariates. RESULTS: About one in ten students (9.80%) reported skipping breakfast daily, the prevalence was higher in traditional (19.59% vs. 8.36%) and cyber (19.67% vs. 8.51%) bullied students than non-bullied students. Bullying victimization presented greater likelihood of breakfast skipping (traditional: AOR (95% CI), 1.91(1.17-2.06); cyber: 1.87(1.70-2.07); any: 2.16(1.99-2.34)). We also observed a relationship between breakfast skipping and victimization type. Traditional only (AOR (95% CI):2.23(1.96-2.54)), cyber only (AOR (95% CI):2.25(1.98-2.56)), and both (AOR (95% CI):2.03(1.82-2.26)) victimization were all positively associated with breakfast skipping. CONCLUSION: Among Chinese adolescents, breakfast skipping is prevalent and consistently linked to both traditional and cyber bullying victimization.