Despite research highlighting the importance of academic performance in reducing youth’s bullying involvement, little attention has focused on its role in moderating the association between peer victimization and youth maladjustment, further, there have been even fewer studies examining potential racial-ethnic differences in the association. This cross-sectional study examined the function of academic performance, as a moderator, in the associations between peer victimization and youth mental health problems (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, and substance use problems) and whether and how this function varied by the youth’s racial-ethnic background. Self-report data were collected from 69,244 middle and high school youth (45.96% were middle schoolers; 49.7% were females; 25.72% were Black and African American youth, 9.64% Latinx American youth, 5.95% Asian American youth, and 10.47% Bi- and Multi-racial youth, and 48.22% White American youth). Multi-level models indicated that academic performance was negatively related to internalizing problems and substance use more strongly in victimized youth than in non-victimized youth, suggesting itself as a buffering factor. Moreover, this buffering function of academic performance in victimized youth was more pronounced in some ethnic groups (i.e., Asian American) than in others (i.e., Black and Latinx American), yet, notably, it was a buffer across all ethnic groups. These findings underscore the importance of academic strength in protecting victimized youth of all ethnicities against mental health difficulties, while recognizing that additional foci on improving academic performance and addressing academic-related norms are needed for racial-ethnic minority subgroups.

尽管研究强调了学业成绩在减少青少年欺凌参与方面的重要性，但很少有人关注其在缓和同伴受害与青少年适应不良之间的关联中的作用，此外，研究该关联中潜在的种族-民族差异的研究更少。这项横断面研究考察了学业成绩作为调节者在同伴受害与青少年心理健康问题（即内化、外化和物质使用问题）之间的关联中的作用，以及这一功能是否以及如何因青少年的种族而变化-种族背景。自我报告数据来自 69,244 名初中和高中青年（45.96% 为中学生；49.7% 为女性；25.72% 为黑人和非裔美国青年，9.64% 为拉丁裔美国青年，5.95% 的亚裔美国青年，10.47% 的双种族和多种族青年，以及 48.22% 的美国白人青年）。多层次模型表明，受害青年的学业成绩与内化问题和物质使用的负相关比在非受害青年中更强烈，这表明其本身是一个缓冲因素。此外，受害青年学业成绩的这种缓冲功能在某些族群（即亚裔美国人）中比在其他族群（即黑人和拉丁美洲裔美国人）中更为明显，但值得注意的是，它是所有族群的缓冲。这些研究结果强调了学术力量在保护各族裔受害青年免受心理健康困难方面的重要性，