Prevalence and Correlates of Bullying Behavior Among Nigerian Middle School Students.

School bullying has received considerable criminological, psychological, educational, and governmental attention. However, much of the attention is focused on bullying in western, Asian, and Scandinavian countries. There appears to be scant, if any, attention paid to this problem on the African continent. Using cross-sectional data from a sample of 1,192 junior secondary school (middle school) students in Nigeria, this study examines the prevalence and correlates of bullying in this sample of secondary school students in Nigeria. Bullying prevalence rate in this sample was 59.9%. The study finds that males were more likely to bully than females, and the most prevalent form of bullying behavior for both genders was making fun of someone. Correlates for bullying perpetration were association with delinquent friends, negative school climate, attending a private school, and ethnicity.