The mediating effect of psychological adjustment in the relationship between bullying victimization and the sense of school belonging in a sample of adolescents

School belonging, and its relationship with academic performance and success, and more recently, with mental health, social well-being and psychological adjustment of adolescent, have always been on the Educational researches spotlight. However, the role that the sense of belonging plays in processes of victimization in the school environment is less known, as well as the mediating role of psychological adjustment. For these reasons, we proposed this study, with a sample of 140 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16 participated, to whom a battery of measures of bullying, psychological adjustment and sense of school belonging were applied. The results confirmed a model in which the factor of victimization by psychological harassment predicts the sense of school belonging directly as well as indirectly through psychological adjustment. Nevertheless, neither exclusion nor relational harassment showed direct or indirect effects on the sense of school belonging. Given the limitations of this study, the importance of promoting the sense of school belonging as a protective factor against bullying is discussed.