Prevalence and Correlates of Bullying Victimization in Four Low-Resource Countries

Abstract

Bullying is one of the most common forms of aggression experienced by school-aged youth, yet research is sparse in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where cultural and contextual factors may influence victimization dynamics. We aimed to examine correlates of victimization and the prevalence of specific victimizing behaviors among youth in four LMIC. Data were included from 3,536 youth collected as part of the ongoing Young Lives Study cohorts in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru, and Vietnam who reported frequency of past-year exposure to nine bullying behaviors at age 15. We calculated both total victimization scores and subtype victimization scores (physical, verbal, relational, and property) by summing the frequencies of experiencing each behavior and used hurdle modeling to examine, separately by country, associations between three demographic correlates (sex, urban/rural setting, and school enrollment) and both total and subtype victimization scores, adjusting for clustered sampling. Mean past-year victimization scores were 11.1 in Ethiopia, 13.4 in India, 14.9 in Peru, and 12.0 in Vietnam, indicating that the average youth in Ethiopia reported two victimization experiences in the past year, up to nearly six in Peru. With the exception of Peru, direct victimization was higher among boys compared with girls, whereas relational victimization was not associated with sex. Physical bullying was less common than other forms of bullying in Ethiopia, Peru, and Vietnam but had a similar frequency as other forms in India. The different patterns in victimization experiences across the samples suggest that culture and/or context may influence victimization dynamics and highlights the need to better understand patterns and variation of bullying victimization in LMIC.

The relationship between psychological distress and bullying victimisation among school-going adolescents in Ghana: a cross-sectional study

“…This therefore makes depressed students targets of bullying. This finding is consistent with previous works among students which found psychological distress, social isolation and loneliness to be significantly associated with bullying victimization [8–13].…”

“…Due to the dearth of research on bullying victimisation in developing countries, there remains a considerable gap in research that needs to be filled to provide an understanding into the scope and nature of the psychological effects of bullying victimisation as the findings in western countries may not necessarily be applied to the Ghanaian context. It has also been suggested that context and culture influences different patterns of victimization experiences among adolescents and young adults [13]. With no anti-bullying policy in place within Ghanaian schools in addition to the high prevalence of bullying reported among adolescents [1], there is therefore the need for a contextually relevant study to explore the various psychological distress that may be associated with bullying victimisation.…”

Bullying Victimization Among School-Going Adolescents in Malaysia: Prevalence and Associated Factors

“…Bullying victimization-repeated exposure to negative actions over time by one or more peers in the context of a power imbalance-is the most common type of school violence and is a major source of victimization among children and adolescents. 1,2 Across countries, there are considerable variations in rates of bullying victimization-ranging from as low as 5% to as high as 70%. 1 While the reasons for these variations are not entirely clear, they have been attributed to cultural factors 3 and social inequalities, where adolescents living in countries with wide socioeconomic disparities were found to be at higher risk of being bullied.…”

“…1,2 Across countries, there are considerable variations in rates of bullying victimization-ranging from as low as 5% to as high as 70%. 1 While the reasons for these variations are not entirely clear, they have been attributed to cultural factors 3 and social inequalities, where adolescents living in countries with wide socioeconomic disparities were found to be at higher risk of being bullied. 4 In Malaysia, the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) conducted in 2012 reported that 17.9% of school-going adolescents aged 13 to 17 years were bullied at least once in the past 30 days, 5 although associated factors were not examined.…”

Prevalence and correlates of bullying perpetration and victimization among school-going adolescents in Chandigarh, North India

“…reported the prevalence and correlates of victimization among low-resource countries; the highest prevalence of victimization was reported from Peru (61.5%) followed by India (56.4%), Vietnam (38.6%), and Ethiopia (27.4%). [ 32 ] Skrzypiec et al . reported the following prevalence rates of victimization: the Philippines: 37.1%; Indonesia: 21.2%; and Taiwan: 5.4%.…”