Abstract
BackgroundSeveral studies have proven that the experiences of being bullied or bullying others are associated with poor mental health among adolescent youths. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between the experience of the bully/victim and mental health among preadolescents and adolescents.MethodsSubjects were the Japanese fifth and sixth grade elementary school students (preadolescents: mean age = 11.3 years; n = 338) and junior high school students (adolescents: mean age = 13.8 years; n = 486). A self-report questionnaire was administered containing items concerning the experience of being a bully/victim and the Youth Self Report (YSR).ResultsFour groups relating to the experience of being a bully/victim were formed: “Victim Only,” “Bully Only,” “Victim and Bully,” and “Neither.” Approximately 65% of preadolescents and approximately 25% of adolescents engaged in bullying behaviors. Of these, the rate of participants in the “Bully Only” group was low, and that in the “Victim and Bully” group was high. Regarding the relationship between the experience of being a bully/victim and mental health, both preadolescents and adolescents of the “Victim Only” group had significantly higher scores on the YSR’s internalizing problems compared with the “Neither” group. Moreover, both preadolescents and adolescents of the “Bully Only” group had significantly higher scores on the YSR’s externalizing problems compared with the “Neither” group. Regarding the relationship between the experience of being a bully/victim and suicidal ideation for both preadolescent and adolescent girls, the relative risks of suicidal ideation were significantly higher in the “Victim and Bully” group than in the “Neither” group.ConclusionsPreadolescents indicated a higher rate of bullying behaviors than adolescents. In both preadolescents and adolescents, different effect patterns on mental health were found for the “Victim Only,” “Bully Only,” and “Victim and Bully” groups. The prevention and intervention methods for mental health should be tailored according to the type of experience associated with being a bully/victim and according to the developmental stages of preadolescence or adolescence.
Highlights
Bullying at school is widely recognized as a major public health problem for adolescent youths
This study aims to examine whether and how the experiences of being a bully/victim in preadolescence were associated with mental health, including internalizing and externalizing problems, and to compare the results with those in adolescents
The elementary school sample consisted of 175 boys and 163 girls, while the junior high school sample consisted of 243 boys and 249 girls
Summary
Bullying at school is widely recognized as a major public health problem for adolescent youths. Olweus defined bullying as follows: “A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students. Tochigi et al [4] studied 19,436 Japanese students in 45 public junior high schools (7th–9th grade) and 28 senior high schools (10th–12th grade) and found that 15,385 (85.1%) were uninvolved in bullying; out of the remainder, 1346 (7.4%) were pure bullies, 859 (4.7%) were pure victims, and 514 (2.8%) were both bullies and victims. These studies proved that experiences of bullying and/or being bullied are common and universal but the frequencies of such experiences were different among these studies. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between the expe‐ rience of the bully/victim and mental health among preadolescents and adolescents
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