Bullying in public and private schools: the effects of gender, race, and socioeconomic status

Abstract

This article explores the effects of social markers of gender, race and socioeconomic status (SES) on bullying among 9th-grade students in Brazil. The aim is to investigate whether students from privileged social groups within the social hierarchy (i.e., men, white individuals, and those of higher SES) exhibit higher rates of bullying perpetration, and conversely, whether students from disadvantaged social groups (women, black individuals, and those of lower SES) are more likely to be victims of these acts. We analyzed data from the 2015 National Survey of School Health (PeNSE) through Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models (HGLM) adjusted separately for public and private schools and for different types of student involvement with bullying: as victim, aggressor, or victim-aggressor. The results indicate that, only as to SES, we can state that bullying reproduces the status hierarchy found in society. In both public and private schools, students with a higher SES are more likely to bully someone, while students with a lower SES are more likely to be bullied. As for gender, it is observed that male students are more prone to be involved in bullying than female students, whether as a victim, aggressor, or victim-aggressor. Differentials are more significant in private schools than in public schools. As for race, it is observed that acting like a bully permeates racial groups in multiple ways.