Prevalence and correlates of bullying perpetration and victimization among school-going adolescents in Chandigarh, North India.

OBJECTIVES

Bullying among adolescents is one of the important but neglected health concerns, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence and correlates of bullying among Indian adolescents.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The prevalence of self-reported involvement in any kind of bullying was assessed among sixth to tenth class students ( = 667, mean age 13 years), across government ( = 359) and private ( = 308) schools using Olweus Bully-Victim Questionnaire in Chandigarh, a North Indian union territory. Self-esteem and emotional and behavioral difficulties of the participants were measured by using standard Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression was done to determine the predictors of bullying.

RESULTS

Prevalence of any kind of bullying was 25.6% (16% victimization, 5.2% perpetration, and 4.3% being bully-victim). Verbal bullying was the most common (55.1%), followed by physical (32.7%) and relational (25.2%) bullying. The prevalence of cyberbullying was 2.7%. Around 44% of students reported that adults in school never did anything to stop bullying. Bully-victims had the highest mean difficulty score (16.07). Significant predictors of bullying were being male (odds ratio [OR] = 2.5 [1.5-4.2], < 0.001); studying in government school (OR = 0.63 [0.41-0.99], = 0.048); having abnormal emotions (OR = 2.24 [1.1-4.7], = 0.035); and poor peer relations (OR = 2.77 [1.44-5.35], = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

One in four adolescents experience some form of bullying in schools in a North Indian city. Bullying perpetration and victimization is associated with gender, type of school, and abnormal difficulties (emotional and behavioral problems).