BMJ 1999;319:344-348 ( 7 August )

Papers

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

Editorial by Chesson and p   348

Roberto Forero, research and evaluation coordinator, a Lyndall McLellan, project officer, b Chris Rissel, epidemiologist, b Adrian Bauman, professor of public health. c

a Health Promotion Unit, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, New South Wales 2070, Australia, b Needs Assessment and Health Outcomes Unit, Central Sydney Area Health Service, Newtown, New South Wales 2042, Australia, c School of Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales 2052, Australia

Correspondence to: C Rissel criss{at}nah.rpa.cs.nsw.gov.au

Objectives: To examine the prevalence of bullying behaviours in schoolchildren and the association of bullying with psychological and psychosomatic health.
Design: Cross sectional survey.
Setting: Government and non-government schools in New South Wales, Australia.
Participants: 3918 schoolchildren attending year 6 (mean age 11.88 years), year 8 (13.96), and year 10 (15.97) classes from 115 schools.
Main outcome measures: Self reported bullying behaviours and psychological and psychosomatic symptoms.
Results: Almost a quarter of students (23.7%) bullied other students, 12.7% were bullied, 21.5% were both bullied and bullied others on one or more occasions in the last term of school, and 42.4% were neither bullied nor bullied others. More boys than girls reported bullying others and being victims of bullying. Bullying behaviour was associated with increased psychosomatic symptoms. Bullies tended to be unhappy with school; students who were bullied tended to like school and to feel alone. Students who both bullied and were bullied had the greatest number of psychological and psychosomatic symptoms.
Conclusions: Being bullied seems to be widespread in schools in New South Wales and is associated with increased psychosomatic symptoms and poor mental health. Health practitioners evaluating students with common psychological and psychosomatic symptoms should consider bullying and the student's school environment as potential causes.


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




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