Abstract
Previous studies have reported a relationship between being a victim of bullying, but no studies have been carried out with Mexican students; notwithstanding the high scores of bullying in Mexico in international rankings. The objective of this study was to analyze the association between being a victim of bullying and lower HRQoL among schoolchildren and adolescents in Mexico. This cross-sectional and correlational study involved 2225 students from 22 elementary, middle and high schools. HRQoL was assessed with the KIDSCREEN-10 questionnaire and bullying with the social adaptation dimension of KIDSCREEN-52. Bivariate associations were evaluated, and a multivariate logistic regression was utilized. The prevalence of victims of bullying was 17.3%. Being a victim of bullying was double the risk of having a lower HRQoL than not being a victim after adjusting for health perception, gender and age, OR 2.3 (1.7-3.1). As the Wilson and Cleary Model of Quality of Life explains, individual characteristics, such as, being a victim of bullying are associated with quality of life. Similar findings in the existing literature imply that bullying is a global phenomenon that impacts the victimized child or adolescent's life in different ways.
Highlights
Bullying is a distinct type of aggressive conduct that seeks to cause damage or discomfort to another person and is characterized by being intentional, repetitive, and in which there is an imbalance of power[1]
This study considered the effects that bullying could have on health related quality of life (HRQoL), independent from other factors, such as perceived heath, self-perception, disability, gender, age and socio-economic level
The contributions of this study to the literature is to report for the first time the association between victims of bullying and HRQoL in a Mexican population of schoolchildren and adolescents
Summary
Bullying is a distinct type of aggressive conduct that seeks to cause damage or discomfort to another person and is characterized by being intentional, repetitive, and in which there is an imbalance of power[1]. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2013, in primary schools in Mexico verbal abuse was present in 8.3% and physical abuse in 5.7% of schools. At the middle school level verbal abuse was present in 29.5% and physical in 10.8% of schools. At the high school level verbal abuse was present in 5.8% and physical abuse in 1.4% of schools. It is noteworthy that comparing abuse in middle and high schools across all countries in the study, Mexico is ranked first in physical and second in verbal abuse[2,3]. Among European and North-American countries, bullying has been observed in male adolescents more than in female adolescents, and as age increases, physical aggression shifts to verbal harassment[4]
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