Bullying behaviour and psychosocial health among school students in New South Wales, Australia: cross sectional survey

British Medical Journal,  August 7, 1999  by Roberto Forero,  Lyndall McLellan,  Chris Rissel,  Adrian Bauman

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Although our results are cross sectional, they are consistent with other findings that have identified bullied children as having few friends, being more introverted than others, and generally lacking social skills.[2 13] Bullies also deserve attention. Dawkins says that bullying may be one component of a more general pattern of antisocial and rule breaking behaviour that shows considerable stability over time,[14] although our data do not address this point.

As suggested by others,[1 14] health practitioners evaluating students with common psychological and psychosomatic symptoms should consider bullying and the student's school environment as a potential cause. A positive school environment may increase health promoting behaviours[1 22] and it is likely that bullying and its consequences can be reduced if the school does not tolerate bullying. Engaging the assistance of children not involved in bullying may help to reduce tolerance of bullying and change the normal attitudes around bullying. Studies of policies and strategies that effectively reduce bullying are needed.

We thank all the schools, staff, and students who participated, the health promotion staff throughout New South Wales who assisted with data collection, and Ms Philayrath Phonsavan, who coordinated the data management.

Contributors: AB and LM initiated the study, designed the protocol and materials, collected and collated the data, and carried out reference study No 20. RF developed the model and conducted the multinomial logistic regression analysis. LM conducted univariate data analysis. RF, LM, CR, and AB interpreted the results, discussed their meaning, and contributed to the writing and editing of this manuscript. CR and RF contributed to reference study No 20. AB will act as guarantor for the paper.

Funding: Epidemiology Unit, South Western Sydney Area Health Service. The health promotion branch of the New South Wales Health Department provided a small grant for the printing of the surveys.

Competing interests: None declared.

Key messages

* Bullying behaviour occurs in schools worldwide and is likely to be associated with poor health in schoolchildren

* Research into bullying has been mainly focused on victims but there are other categories of bullying that deserve attention

* At least three out of five students experienced or participated in bullying in schools in New South Wales, Australia

* The psychosocial and psychosomatic health of the students varied according to their bullying status

[1] Williams K, Chambers M, Logan S, Robinson D. Association of common health symptoms with bullying in primary schoolchildren. BMJ 1996;313:17-9.

[2] Rigby K, Slee PT. Dimensions of interpersonal relating among Australian schoolchildren and their implications for psychological well-being. J Soc Psychol 1993;133:33-42.

[3] Boulton MJ, Smith PK. Bully/victim problems among middle school children: stability, self perceived competence, and peer acceptance. Br J Dev Psychol 1994;12:315-29.