Patterns and Correlates for Bullying among Young Adolescents in Ghana

Abstract

Bullying is relatively common and is considered to be a public health problem among adolescents worldwide. The present study examined the risk factors associated with bullying behavior among adolescents in a lower-middle-income country setting. Data on 6235 adolescents aged 11-16 years, derived from the Republic of Ghana's contribution to the Global School-based Health Survey, were analyzed using bivariate and multinomial logistic regression analysis. A high prevalence of bullying was found among Ghanaian adolescents. Alcohol-related health compromising behaviors (alcohol use, alcohol misuse and getting into trouble as a result of alcohol) increased the risk of being bullied. In addition, substance use, being physically attacked, being seriously injured, hunger and truancy were also found to increase the risk of being bullied. However, having understanding parents and having classmates who were kind and helpful reduced the likelihood of being bullied. These findings suggest that school-based intervention programs aimed at reducing rates of peer victimization should simultaneously target multiple risk behaviors. Teachers can also reduce OPEN ACCESSSoc. Sci. 2014, 3 828 peer victimization by introducing programs that enhance adolescents' acceptance of each other in the classroom.

Injuries among adolescents in Greenland: behavioural and socio-economic correlates among a nationally representative sample

“…Secondly, some questions such as drug use, bullying, or physical fighting might have altered our findings in in the form recall bias, as the participants had to recall information within a rather large time frame which might have reduced their recall ability and accuracy (Celedonia et al, 2013;Wilson et al, 2012). Also, all the questions were self-reported, which may have been subject to social desirability and non-response bias (Acquah, Wilson & Doku, 2014).…”

“…Illnesses such as measles or the flu were specifically excluded in the literal question, while both intentional and unintentional injuries were included. In accordance with suggestions from the peer-reviewed literature, we examined the following independent variables: gender, age, vigorous physical activity (VPA), VPA (outside school hours), smoking, alcohol misuse, physical fighting, bullying victimisation, bullying perpetrator, parental job, living with parents and self-assessed wealth (Acquah, Wilson & Doku, 2014;Celedonia et al, 2013;Garmy, Vilhjalmsson & Kristjansdottir, 2018). The relevant questions and examined variables and coding can be found in the appendix under the name 'Appendix 1'.…”

Peer Review #1 of "Injuries among adolescents in Greenland: behavioural and socio-economic correlates among a nationally representative sample (v0.3)"

“…Secondly, some questions such as drug use, bullying, or physical fighting might have altered our findings in in the form recall bias, as the participants had to recall information within a rather large time frame which might have reduced their recall ability and accuracy (Celedonia et al 2013;Wilson et al 2012). Also, all the questions were self-reported, which may have been subject to social desirability and non-response bias (Acquah et al 2014a).…”

“…In accordance with suggestions from the peer-reviewed literature, we examined the following independent variables: gender, age, vigorous physical activity (VPA), VPA (outside school hours), smoking, alcohol misuse, physical fighting, bullying victimization, bullying perpetrator, parent socio-economic status, living with parents & self-assessed wealth (Acquah et al 2014a;Acquah et al 2014b;Celedonia et al 2013;Garmy et al 2018). The relevant questions and examined variables and coding can be found in the appendix under the name 'Appendix 1'.…”

Predicting risk and protective factors of generalized anxiety disorder: a comparative study among adolescents in Ghana

“…Apart from relationships with parents, adolescents in LMICs face significant set of challenges: poverty, conflict, parental unemployment, early school dropout, and a myriad of other factors that are unique to the sociocultural environment (Kabiru et al, 2010). Peer pressure is a risk factor in adolescence with several other psychological outcomes, the most common being anxiety (Acquah, Wilson, & Doku, 2014;Cummings et al, 2014). Differences in self-esteem, peer pressure, and religiosity, although they affect mental health, have however not been extensively studied in Sub-Saharan Africa.…”