Bullying behaviours and psychosocial health: results from a cross-sectional survey among high school students in Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate bullying behaviours and their associations with health and health risk behaviours. This study involved completion of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) and Youth Self Report (YSR) questionnaires by 3,519 students. Of the students, 59.4% (n=2,091) were neither bullies/nor victims, 22% (n=774) victims, 9.4% (n=331) bully/victims and 9.2% (n=323) bullies. Generally, students involved in bullying behaviours were more likely to have higher YSR scale scores than students who were not involved in bullying behaviours. Bully/victims had higher scores on the YSR subscales than others. Students involved in bullying behaviours were more likely not to use seat belts, to watch TV >or= 4 h/day, to be involved in a physical fight, to skip class and to spend time with friends than students who were not involved in bullying behaviours. Bully/victims and bullies were more likely to smoke cigarettes, to drink alcohol, to be drunk, to play computer games and to be sexually active than others. Bully/victims were more likely to have less educated mothers and to have difficulty in talking to both parents than others. Victims were more likely to have a lower socioeconomic status, to have difficulty in talking to opposite gender friends and to have difficulty in making new friends than others. Bullying behaviour is common and associated with other risk behaviours and psychological health problems in Istanbul high school students. Health professionals should be aware of the influence of bullying on health and particularly on bully/victims' health. There is a strong need for bullying prevention programmes in schools in Turkey.

Peer Bullying Among High School Students and Related Factors

“…Findings of various studies show that the rates of peer bullying, victimization, and being both victim and bully vary between 7.6-18.8%, 9.3-22.0% and 6.4-9.4%, respectively. 6,[39][40][41] It was found that the prevalence values obtained from this study are consistent with other study data.…”

“…Although there is no compromise of the relationship between bullying and victimization and parental education, it is stated that tendency toward bullying decreases with an increase in the education of the parents, while those students whose mothers have a lower education engage in bullying more. 6 Moreover, literature surveys showed that bullying is observed with more frequency among elementary school students, but it is reported that the rate of engaging in such behaviors and victimization decreases as the students grow older. 4,9,16,50 The findings from this study showed that the frequency of bullying in all groups is lower with respect to elementary school students, and bullying behaviors can be seen in all age groups-especially among 10th grade students.…”

“…2 In several studies, it was found that the frequency of bullying behavior is between 8 to 30%. [3][4][5][6][7] It is emphasized that bullying or victimization may cause serious physical and mental problems for students in the short and long term. [8][9][10][11] It has been observed that students who bully have poor attendance records and do poorly academically in school.…”

Bullying/Cyberbullying en quinto y sexto curso de primaria: diferencias entre centros públicos y privados

“…The study of Fu et al (2013) found that adolescents from families with lower SEL were more frequently victims of severe bullying behaviours but the relation was reversed in the case of less severe behaviours. However, other investigations have not found any relation between SEL and being a victim of face-to-face bullying (Barboza et al, 2009;Fernández-Tomé, 2015;García-Continente et al, 2010;Magklara et al, 2012).…”

Kırsal ve kentsel alanlarda yaşayan 11 ve 13 yaşlarındaki öğrencilerin sağlık durumları ve sağlık davranışları arasındaki farklılıklar: Türkiye sağlık davranışları araştırması 2006 sonuçları

“…Gençler, eriflkin döneme geçifl sürecinde pek çok zorlukla bafl etmek zorunda kal›rlar ve sa¤l›kl› olmalar› onlar›n zorluklarla etkin bir flekilde bafl edebilmelerini kolaylaflt›r›r. Ancak, araflt›rmalar, ergenlerin madde kullan›m›, diyet yapma, ö¤ün atlama, besin de¤eri yüksek yiyecekler yerine enerjisi yo¤un yiyecekleri tüketme, yeterince fiziksel etkinlikte bulunmama, düzenli difl f›rçalamama ve zorbal›k gibi pek çok sa¤l›¤› riske atan davran›fllar nedeni ile sa¤l›k-lar›n› k›sa ya da uzun sürede riske att›klar›n› göstermekte-dir (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).…”