Bullying in adolescents: role, type of violence and determinants

An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of adolescents, who were selected using a multistage probability sampling, from 20 public educational institutions in a Colombian city, in which a simple and multivariate binomial regression was carried out.

Results

A total of 500 adolescents participated from which 50.4% were women and 53.2% in their middle adolescence. Verbal violence prevailed in 66.5%, followed by physical violence in 32.0% and social bullying in 30.6%. 69.5% of the adolescents have been witnesses, 35.8% victims, and 14.2% aggressors. 80.5% of the aggressors were victims of bullying. In the multivariate analysis, an association was found between being a victim and having disabilities (PR:2.4; CI: 1.6-3.7), verbal aggression in the home (PR: 1.7; CI: 1.2-2.3) and drug abuse (PR: 1.7; CI 1.1-2.8). Being an aggressor was also associated with being a victim (PR: 7.2; CI 3.6-14.3) and alcohol abuse (PR: 2.2; CI: 1.3-3.8).

Conclusion

The frequency of bullying observed and the associated determinants demonstrate the persistence of this problem in adolescents and the need to develop a culture of appropriate and inclusive coexistence that goes beyond the school setting.

Bullying; Adolescent; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Adolescent Health

Variable	Category	%	(95% CI)
Gender	Female	50.4	(43.5-57.2)
	Male	49.2	(42.4-56.1)
	Prefer not to say	0.4	(0.1-1.5)
Age Group	Early Adolescence	36.6	(30.3-43.3)
	Middle Adolescence	53.2	(46.3-6)
	Late Adolescence	7.7	(4.9-11.6)
	Prefer not to say	2.6	(0.7-8.9)
Current School Year	6	16.8	(12.4-22.4)
	7	14.0	(10.6-18.2)
	8	21.4	(16.5-27.4)
	9	18.3	(12.9-25.3)
	10	16.4	(11.4-23.1)
	11	13.0	(9.5-17.6)
Origin	Urban	86.2	(80.3-90.5)
	Rural	6.9	(4.2-11.2)
	Prefer not to say	6.9	(3.8-12.3)
Displacement	Yes	12,9	(7.5-21.2)
	No	82.3	(74.0-88.4)
	Prefer not to say	4.8	(2.3-9.9)
Socioeconomic Strata	1	26.3	(19.8-33.9)
	2	34.0	(27.9-40.7)
	3	25.2	(20.6-30.5)
	4	7.3	(4.9-10.5)
	6	0.5	(0.1-1.8)
	Prefer not to say	6.7	(3.4-12.7)
Affiliation to the General System of Social Security in Health	Contributory	43.2	(36.8-49.8)
	Subsidized	36.8	(29.7-44.5)
	Prepaid medicines	4.5	(2.6-7.7)
	Affiliated	3.4	(1.6-7.1)
	Special Regimen	5.6	(3.4-9.1)
	DK/DR	6.5	(4.3-9.8)

Variable	% (95% CI)
Relationship with their parents and/or in the home
Sharing time with their parents	80.0 (74.4-84.6)
Having a daily talk with their mothers	84.7 (79.0-89.1)
Physical punishment from parents	7.7 (5.1-11.5)
Physical aggression in the home	5.5 (3.5-8.7)
Verbal aggression in the home	28.5 (22.9-34.9)
Relationship with their neighbors
Physical aggression among neighbors	28.4 (22.7-34.9)
Verbal aggression among neighbors	49.9 (43.1-56.8)
Friends drink alcohol	40.0 (33.4-46.9)
Friends smoke	28.9 (23.4-35.1)
School Violence
Fear of attending school	3.8 (2.2-6.3)
A classmate has brought knives to school over the last 12 months	22.8 (17.6-29.1)
A classmate has brought firearms to school over the last 12 months	1.0 (0.4-2.3)
He/she has been part of a gang	6.6 (4.3-10.2)
He/she has witnessed violence by gangs over the last 12 months	24.0 (18.7-30.3)
Substance Abuse
Alcohol abuse	15.6 (10.8-22.0)
Drug abuse	8.1 (4.8-1.2)

Violence Type	Role			Total % (95% CI)
Violence Type	Witness % (95% CI)	Victim % (95% CI)	Aggressor % (95% CI)	Total % (95% CI)
Verbal Violence	65.0 (58.6-70.9)	33.4 (27.3-40.1)	13.8 (9.6-19.5)	66.5 (60.2-72.3)
Physical Violence	37.8 (30.9-45.3)	20.9 (16.12-26.6)	9.3 (6.4-13.5)	32.0 (26.3-38.3)
Social bullying	30.4 (24.6-37.0)	19.0 (14.0-25.2)	8.6 (5.2-13.9)	30.6 (27.7-37.1)
Against Belongings	27.7 (22.2-33.9)	23.7 (18.6-29.8)	8.1 (5.3-12.3)	28.8 (23.3-35.1)
Against Teachers	22.9 (17.6-29.3)	19.1 (13.9-25.6)	9.6 (5.8-15.4)	26.5 (20.8-33.0)
Total	69.5 (63.2-75.2)	35.8 (29.5-42.6)	14.2 (9.9-19.8)	-

Variable	Victim	Aggressor
Variable	Crude PR (95% CI)	Crude PR (95% CI)
Sociodemographic Variable
Female/Male Gender	0.9 (0.6-1.3)	0.6 (0.3-1.1)
Rural/Urban Origin	0.9 (0.5-1.8)	1.2 (0.4-3.3)
Displacement	0.7 (0.4-1.6)	0.6 (0.2-1.8)
Religious Practitioner	0.9 (0.6-1.4)	0.7 (0.4-1.4)
With disabilities	2.3 (1.6-3.3)**	3.3 (1.3-8.6)*
Relationship with parents and/or in the home
Sharing time with parents	0.7 (0.5-1.0)*	0.5 (0.2-0.9)*
Having a daily talk with their mothers	0.7 (0.5-1.1)	0.5 (0.2-1.1)
Physical aggression by parents	1.6 (1.1-2.5)*	1.2 (0.53-2.8)
Physical aggression in the home	1.9 (1.3-2.8)**	2.0 (0.8-4.7)
Verbal aggression in the home	1.7 (1.2-2.4)**	2.7 (1.4-5.5)**
Relationship with neighbors
Physical aggression by neighbors	1.9 (1.4-2.6)**	2.5 (1.3-4.7)**
Verbal aggression by neighbors	1.4 (0.9-2.0)	0.9 (0.5-1.7)
Friends drink alcohol	1.5 (1.1-2.2)*	1.9 (0.9-4.0)
Friends smoke	2.2 (1.6-3.0)**	3.0 (1.5-6.0)**
School Violence
Fear of attending school	1.1 (0.5-2.2)	1.2 (0.4-4.1)
A classmate has brought knives to school over the last 12 months	2.6 (1.6-4.3)**	5.1 (2.2-11.5)**
A classmate has brought firearms to school over the last 12 months	2.6 (1.6-4.3)**	1.2 (0.2-8.2)
He/she has been part of a gang	1.6 (1.0-2.5)*	2.7 (1.31-5.55)*
He/she has witnessed violence by gangs over the last 12 months	1.3 (0.9-2.0)	1.8 (0.9-3.7)
Substance Abuse
Alcohol abuse	1.1 (0.7-1.8)	2.4 (1.2-4.8)*
Drug abuse	1.9 (1.2-2.9)**	4.4 (2.2-9.0)**

Variable	Victim	Aggressor
Variable	Adjusted PR (95% CI)	Adjusted PR (95% CI)
Sociodemographic
With disabilities	2.4 (1.6-3.7)**
Victim of bullying		7.2 (3.6-14.3)**
Relationship with parents and/or in the home
Verbal aggression in the home	1.7 (1.2-2.3)**
Substance Abuse
Alcohol abuse		2.2 (1.3-3.8)*
Drug abuse	1.7 (1.1-2.8)*

Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 , 05403-000 São Paulo - SP/ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 3061-7553, - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: reeusp@usp.br

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[1] Corresponding author: Astrid Nathalia Páez Esteban Universidad de Santander, School of Health Sciences Bucaramanga, Colombia nathaliapaez1@hotmail.com