Bullying and Victimization among Adolescents in Governmental Schools in Aswan City, Upper Egypt

Abstract

Background: Detecting the magnitude and determinants of bullying and victimization among school students is important for starting suitable preventive measures. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and determinants of bullying and victimization among school adolescents. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 students from 10 schools in Aswan city. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic characteristics and determinants of bullying and victimization. The frequency of bullying and victimization was measured using the school life survey tool. Results: Prevalence of bullying behavior was high (67.5%) among the studied group, where 30.2% were victims, 29.8% were bully-victims, and 7.5% were bullies. On multinomial logistic regression, family members using weapons (OR=6.2, P=0.003), violent movies (OR=5.52, P=0.003) and school climate (OR=0.857, P=0.001) were the significant predictors for „bully‟ category. Exposure to corporal punishment, bad language and insults in home (OR=2.389, P= 0.006; OR=2.335, P=0.031; OR=2.265, P=0.013 respectively) and school climate (OR=0.939, P=0.02) were the significant predictor for „victim‟ category. Lastly, the significant predictors for being bully-victims were exposure to insults in home (OR=4.313, P<0.001), threatening with weapon among family members (OR=3.999, P=0.02), violent friends (OR=2.592, P=0.009), exposure to bad language in home (OR=2.408, P=0.04), school punishment (OR=2.482, P=0.019) and school climate (OR=0.851, P<0.001). Conclusions: The prevalence of bullying is high among school adolescents in Aswan city. A negative family environment and poor school climate have a role in the student involvement in bullying and victimization, so starting parental educational programs and effective bullying prevention programs in the schools is recommended.