Exposure to domestic violence and bullying victimization among Peruvian adolescents

Abstract

With the aim of evaluating the association between exposure to violence at home and bullying victimization among Peruvian adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, during 2019, a cross-sectional study of secondary data analysis of the 2019 Peruvian National Survey on Social Relations (ENARES) was carried out. The independent variable was exposure to violence at home, and the dependent variable was bullying victimization, which included psychological and physical bullying. Potential confounding variables were also included. Multinomial logistic regression models were used, and relative risk ratios (RRR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were estimated. The complex sampling of the ENARES 2019 was considered in all calculations. Data from 1,569 Peruvian adolescents were included. Thirty-eight point one percent were exposed to violence at home, while 37.9% were victims of psychological bullying only, 3.4% of physical bullying only, and 22.4% of both types of bullying. Adolescents who were always or almost always exposed to violence at home were 4.8 times more likely to be victims of bullying (RRR = 4.80; 95%CI: 2.44-9.42), adjusted for multiple confounding variables. In Peru, the Peruvian adolescents aged 12 to 17 years who were exposed to violence at home were more likely to be victims of bullying at school. These results should draw the attention of public policies decision-makers toward children's protection.