The Purpose of this study is to investigate the associations of bullying victimization and three subtypes of social withdrawal(shyness, unsociable, regulated), class climate and verify moderating effect of class climate in the relation to social withdrawal and bullying victimization. To do this, Social Experience Questionnaire(SEQ), Child Social Preference Scale-Revised(CSPS-R), Class Climate Questionnaire were implemented to the adolescents who are studying at middle school in Busan. 382 responses were included in the final analysis of this study. The data were analyzed in several steps using SPSS 20.0 : descriptive analysis, independent sample T-test, Pearson correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results are summarized as follows: First, there were statistically significant differences between adolescent girls and adolescent boys in terms of relational bullying and shyness withdrawal, regulated withdrawal. Second, there were positive correlations between social withdrawal subtypes and bullying victimization with adolescent girls. Adolescent boys were not positive correlations between regulated withdrawal and bullying victimization. And, there were negative correlations autonomous or familiar class climate and bullying victimization. But, controlled or laissez-faire class climate and bullying victimization were positive correlations. Finally, controlled or laissez-faire class climate moderates the effects of shyness withdrawal, regulated withdrawal on peer bullying in middle school students with adolescent girls.
Overall, our findings suggest a need for prevention and intervention programs that considers gender differences and specific participant roles in bullying victimization, social withdrawal and class climate for middle school students. Implications and limitations of these findings were fully discussed, along with suggestions for further study.