Peer pressure and bullying among school going adolescents in the district of Kandy

Abstract

ObjectivesTo determine the extent, common types and the impacts of negative peer pressure and bullying among adolescents within the school environment. MethodologyA cross sectional study was carried out including Sinhalese adolescents in grades 9, 10 and 11 in the district of Kandy. Twelve schools were selected randomly to represent each category of schools namely 1AB, 1C and 2 and a class was considered as a cluster. Details on events and experiences as victims of negative peer pressure and bullying were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. ResultsThe sample consisted of 896 students with a mean age of 15 years (SD= 0.86).Fifty two percent (n= 466) were boys. Peer pressure on substance use and of financial type was significantly more for boys. Peer pressure for sexual activities was reported by 14.6% of boys and 11.2% of girls. A significantly higher proportion of boys (78.1%), were victims of physical bullying than girls (26.5%) (p<0.001). More girls were victims of verbal bullying (82.1%) than boys (50%) (p<0.001).Of the sample, 53.3% were victims of relational bullying. Of the boys, 16.7%, 12.2% and 10.3% were compelled to smoke, use alcohol or use illegal abusive substances. Drop in school performance, staying away from school and extra-curricular activities, engaging in homo-sexual and hetero-sexual acts, feeling of hatred and suicidal thoughts were some of the undesirable impacts reported. ConclusionHigh prevalence and the harmful effects of negative peer pressure and bullying observed provide compelling reasons to initiate interventions.

Bullying in Rural Schools among Early Adolescents in Sri Lanka; Prevalence of Bullying Acts and Common Responses to Bullying

“…Findings of this study show some similarities with the findings of Dissanayake et al [17]. The prevalence of most of the bullying acts have similar patterns.…”

“…A self-administered questionnaire developed by the researcher based on both global and local available literature [8,17] was used to collect data. The questionnaire was pretested with 8 students in grades 7, 8, 9 in NCP/ A/ GB/ MT/ Mihintale Maha Vidyalaya.…”

“…Health impacts on a victim sometimes costs not only health but also lives. Commonly reported effects of bullying on victims are poor social adjustment, psychological distress [10], unhappiness [11], low selfesteem [12], development of psychosomatic symptoms [11,13], depression [13,14], suicide ideation [14,15], absence from school and poor performance in education [16], being compelled to drug abuse [17]. Bullying in adolescent age in schools is a proven predictor of delinquency, violence, and anti-social behavior in adulthood [18].…”

“…Two other studies were conducted in Sri Lanka on bullying among school going children, but not specifically about school going early adolescents in rural schools in Sri Lanka. They were a cross-sectional study conducted in Kandy district including 896 adolescents in grade 9, 10 and 11 [17] and a case control study conducted with age 5-12 children attending mental ISSN: 2349-8889 Volume-8, Issue-1 (January 2021) https://doi.org/10.31033/ijrasb.8.1.4…”