The role of family and school-level factors in bullying and cyberbullying: a cross-sectional study

Bevilacqua, L. et al. (2017) The role of family and school-level factors in bullying and cyberbullying: a cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatrics, 17, 160. (doi: 10.1186/s12887-017-0907-8) (PMID:28697725) (PMCID:PMC5505024)

Abstract

Background: Bullying and cyberbullying are common phenomena in schools. These negative behaviours can have a significant impact on the health and particularly mental health of those involved in such behaviours, both as victims and as bullies. This UK study aims to investigate student-level and school-level characteristics of those who become involved in bullying and cyberbullying behaviours as victims or perpetrators. Methods: We used data from 6667 Year 7 students from the baseline survey of a cluster randomized trial in 40 English schools to investigate the associations between individual-level and school-level variables with bullying victimization, cyberbullying perpetration, and cyberbullying victimization. We ran multilevel models to examine associations of bullying outcomes with individual-level variables and school-level variables. Results: In multilevel models, at the school level, school type and school quality measures were associated with bullying risk: students in voluntary-aided schools were less likely to report bullying victimization (0.6 (0.4, 0.9) p = 0.008), and those in community (3.9 (1.5, 10.5) p = 0.007) and foundation (4.0 (1.6, 9.9) p = 0.003) schools were more likely to report being perpetrators of cyberbullying than students in mainstream academies. A school quality rating of “Good” was associated with greater reported bullying victimization (1.3 (1.02, 1.5) p = 0.03) compared to ratings of “Outstanding.” Conclusions: Bullying victimization and cyberbullying prevalence vary across school type and school quality, supporting the hypothesis that organisational/management factors within the school may have an impact on students’ behaviour. These findings will inform future longitudinal research investigating which school factors and processes promote or prevent bullying and cyberbullying behaviours. Trial registration: Trial ID: ISRCTN10751359 Registered: 11/03/2014 (retrospectively registered).

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The INCLUSIVE study (trial number: ISRCTN10751359) is funded by the NIHR.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bond, Professor Lyndal
• Authors: Bevilacqua, L., Shackleton, N., Hale, D., Allen, E., Bond, L., Christie, D., Elbourne, D., Fitzgerald-Yau, N., Fletcher, A., Jones, R., Miners, A., Scott, S., Wiggins, M., Bonell, C., and Viner, R. M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU
• Journal Name: BMC Pediatrics
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• ISSN: 1471-2431
• ISSN (Online): 1471-2431
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Authors
• First Published: First published in BMC Pediatrics 17: 160
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license