Bullying in Brazilian schools: results from the National School-based Health Survey (PeNSE), 2009

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify and describe the occurrence of bullying among students in the 9th year (8th grade) from public and private schools from 26 Brazilian state capitals and the Federal District. It is a cross-sectional study involving 60,973 students and 1,453 public and private schools. Data analysis indicates that 5.4% (IC95%: 5.1%-5.7%) of students reported having suffered bullying almost always or always in the last 30 days, 25.4% (IC95%: 24.8%-26.0%) were rarely or sometimes the victim of bullying and 69.2% (IC95%: 68.5%-69.8%) of students felt no humiliation or provocation at school. The capital with higher frequency of bullying was Belo Horizonte (6.9%; IC95%: 5,9%-7,9%), Minas Gerais, and the lowest was Palmas (3.5%; IC95%: 2.6%-4.5%), Tocantins. Boys reported more bullying (6,0%; IC95%: 5.5%-6.5%) compared with girls (4,8%; IC95%: 4.4%-5.3%). There was no difference between public schools 5.5% (IC95%: 5.1%-5.8%) and private (5.2%) (IC95%: 4.6%-5.8%), except in Aracaju, Sergipe, that show more bullying in private schools. The findings indicate an urgent need for intersectoral action from educational policies and practices that enforce the reduction and prevention of the occurrence of bullying in schools in Brazil.

Construct validity and reliability of Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire – Brazilian version

“…Although some items could be further modified to include only two response categories, the three alternatives were maintained for all items to ensure uniformity between the bully and victim scales. The presence of multiple categories allows for an estimation of behavior frequency, which is especially important since repetition is a core feature of bullying (Malta et al, 2010). Thus, use of the IRT model confirmed that the behaviors measured by the scale are expressions of the underlying construct, and also allowed us to determine the performance of each item of the QBO construct for Brazilian adolescents (Andrade et al, 2000;Pasquali, & Primi, 2003).…”

“…Recurrence over time is also a key aspect of bullying (Berger, 2007), along with the involvement of a bully, or perpetrator, and of a victim, the target of the aggression. Some individuals may be at the same time perpetrators and victims, and are therefore classified as bully-victims (Malta et al, 2010).…”

“…In fact, bullying is understood as a social phenomenon rather than a psychiatric disorder (Lopes Neto, 2005). Nevertheless, studies have shown that bullying has a severe negative impact on academic performance (Webster-Stratton et al 2008), with consequences that may extend into adulthood for both victims and perpetrators (Malta, et al, 2010).…”

Prevalence of Obesity, Overweight and Eating Disorders in a School-Based Population in Southern Brazil

“…Different results were obtained in a study involving more than 60,000 students of public and private schools in the 26 Brazilian State capitals and the Federal District [30], which found 5.40% of bullying victims. Being a victim of bullying was not associated with overweight; however, in the bivariate analysis, the victims of bullying were 78% more likely (PR=1.78) to show ED symptoms than those who were not bullying victims.…”

Identificação e caracterização da violência escolar: subsídios para ações de enfrentamento

“…Finalmente, destacam-se os dados referentes à presença de álcool e, sobretudo, armas brancas e de fogo nas escolas. O combate à entrada de drogas e armas nas escolas é de vital importân-cia, uma vez que se compreende que sua presença se constitui como potencial causadora e/ou agravante das situações de violência 20 . Diante desse quadro preocupante de violência escolar, se faz necessário refletir acerca de algumas possibilidades de proteção aos jovens e enfrentamento ao fenômeno.…”