Abstract
ObjectiveBullying victimization among adolescents has been well-recognized as a behavior associated with adverse psychological and mental health outcomes. Most studies on bullying victimization have focused on adolescents, but research is sparse regarding school victimization among preadolescents before they transition to adolescence. This study sought to identify latent classes of different types of co-occurring bullying victimization, based on a sample of 3829 school students in grades 5–8, ages 9–14 in the year of 2011 from the Saskatoon Health Region, Saskatchewan, Canada.ResultsUsing a latent class analysis approach, the results uncovered three groups of victimized students, including those who were aggressively victimized (7.2%), moderately victimized (34.6%) and non-victimized (58.2%). Younger age and being overweight was associated with a higher likelihood of bullying victimization. Moderately and aggressively victimized students had greater probabilities of feeling like an outsider, experiencing anxiety, depressed moods, engaging in suicidal ideation and drinking when compared to non-victimized students. Peer and parent supports had significant protective effects against being victimized. Given the negative consequences of recurrent victimization among the preadolescents, it is imperative to address bullying incidents as they occur to prevent repeated transgressions, especially for those who suffer from multiple types of victimization.
Highlights
Adolescence, characterized as a phase of rapid physical and emotional growth, proves to be a difficult stage in life for children, as they are put at increased risk for bullying [1,2,3]
There are different types of peer victimization such as a physical attack, verbal harassment, social exclusion, spreading rumors, and cyberbullying and students may suffer from multiple types of victimization simultaneously
Individual-level factors include socio-demographic variables, body weight based on self-reported weight and height, behavior variables and psychological variables including suicide ideation in the past year, feeling like an outsider, depressed mood (12-question scale shortened from the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), ranging from 0 to 36), anxiety, and self-esteem
Summary
Using LCA, 2-, 3-, and 4-class models were considered to identify the latent classes of study participants by the bullying frequency according to different types of bullying victimization (Table 1). Among non-victimized children, the likelihood of never being bullied physically was 96.5%, verbally was 90.1%, socially was 96.9%, and electronically was 98.9%. For the moderately victimized group, the probability of being bullied once or twice physically was 35.6%, verbally was 65.8%, socially was 53.1%, and electronically was 15.5%. The probability of being frequently bullied physically was 30.1%, verbally was 80.6%, socially was 72.2%, and electronically was 19.1%. Preadolescents with self-perception of being overweight were 1.48 (95% CI 1.18–1.86) and 2.31 (95% CI 1.57–3.40) times more likely to be moderately and aggressively victimized versus non-victimized, respectively. For every score increase in parent relationship, the odds of belonging to the moderately victimized class were 0.95 (95% CI 0.93–0.97) times and the odds of belonging to the aggressively victimized class were 0.95 (95% CI 0.91–0.99) times the odds of being non-victimized. < 0.001 – 0.013 < 0.001 friendships, the odds of being moderately and aggressively victimized were 0.89 (95% CI 0.86–0.92) times and 0.87 (95% CI 0.82–0.92) times the odds of being non-victimized, respectively
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
