A Comparative Assessment of Bullying Among in-school Adolescents in an Urban and Rural Setting in Southern Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60787/tnhj.v17i4.332Keywords:
Bullying, Knowledge, Perception, Pattern, PracticeAbstract
Background: Bullying has become a growing public health burden globally with consequences linked to psychiatric morbidity in adulthood. In Nigeria, bullying is assuming a health threat with a prevalence as high as 78%. The role geographic variations play in determining the prevalence of bullying in Nigeria is largely unknown. The objective of this study is to assess and compare the knowledge, perception and practice of bullying amongst in-school adolescents in an urban and a rural setting in Edo State, Nigeria.
Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study design was utilized for this study. The study population comprised students in an urban and a rural secondary school in Edo State. Respondents were selected using a multi-stage sampling technique. Data was collected using pre-tested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire comprising both open and closed ended questions and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21.0 software. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results: A total of 700 respondents took part in the study (350 urban and 350 rural) with a mean (standard deviation) age of 14.9 (1.9) years.The urban respondents had better knowledge (p<0.001), better perception (p=0.012) and higher prevalence of bullying (p<0.001) compared to the rural respondents.
Conclusion: The study showed a gap in knowledge and high prevalence of bulling in both schools. All stakeholders should focus on improving the knowledge and curbing the practice of bullying amongst secondary school students by employing targeted interventions.
Downloads
References
Gladden RM, Vivolo-Kantor AM, Hamburger ME & Lumpkin CD. Bullying Surveillance Among Youths: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements, Version 1.0. Atlanta, GA; National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Education; 2014. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/pdf/bullying. Accessed 1/06/17.
O’Moore M and Minton S. Dealing with bullying in schools: A training manual for teachers, parents and other professionals. 2004; (1st ed) London: Paul Chapman
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Understanding Bullying. Fact Sheet 2016. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention. Accessed 1/06/17
Bullying facts.Fast fact bulling in schools. 2013; 1-9. Available from http://www.bullyingnoway.gov.au/resources/pdf/fastfactbullyinginschool. Accessed 14/06/16.
David-Ferdon C, Hertz MF. Electronic media and youth violence: A CDC issue brief for researchers. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2009. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ ViolencePrevention/pdf/Electronic_Aggression_Researcher_Brief-a.pdf.
Olweus DA. Bullying in school: evaluation and dissemination of the Olweus bullying prevention program. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2010; 80(1): 124–134.
Omoniyi MB. Bullying in schools: Psychological implications and counselling interventions. Journal of Education and Practice. 2013; 4(18): 71-78.
World Health Organization. Effects of bullying. 2013; 1-3. Available from http://www.who.int/bullying/effects. Accessed at 01/06/2016.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth risk behaviour surveillance. 2012; 2-4 Available from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs. Accessed 14/06/16.
Egbochukwu EO. Bullying in Nigerian schools: Prevalence study and implications for counselling. Journal of Social Sciences. 2010; 14(1): 65-71.
World Health Organization. Bullying among secondary school students. 2010; 2-3 Available from http://www.who.int/bullying_students_health/en/. Accessed at 15/06/2016.
Bill AJ. Where you are not alone. 2012; 5-6.Available from http://www.bullying.org. Accessed 14/06/16.
Acquah EO, Wilson ML, Doku DT. Patterns and Correlates for Bullying among Young Adolescents in Ghana. Soc. Sci. 2014, 3, 827–840; doi:10.3390/socsci3040827
Qiao YJ, Xing Y, Duan JL, Bai CX, Pan YP, Cui YQ, Kong JH. Prevalence and associated factors of school physical violence behaviors among middle school students in Beijing. Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi 2010;31: 510–12.
S. Cui, Y. 28Cheng, Z. Xu, Dafang Chen, and Yan Wang. “Peer Relationships and Suicide Ideation and Attempts among Chinese Adolescents.” Child: Care, Health and Development 2011; 137: 692–702.
Jing Wang, Ronald J. Iannotti, and Tonja R. Nansel. “School bullying among adolescents in the United States: Physical, verbal, relational, and cyber.” Journal of Adolescent Health. 2009; 45: 368–75.
Pellegrini AD and Bartini M. A longitudinal study of bullying, victimization and peer affiliation during the transition from primary school to middle school. American Educational Research Journal. 2000; 37: 699-725.
Asiyai RI. Exploring bullying in Nigerian secondary school and school administrators strategies for its’ management. Journal of Educational and Social Research. 2015; 5(2): 7-10.
Omoteso BA. Bullying behaviour its associated factors and psychological effects among secondary students in Nigeria. The Journal of International Social Research. 2010; 3(10): 502-504.
Solberg ME, Olweus D. Prevalence estimation of school bullying with the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. Aggressive Behavior. 2003;29:239–268
Kyriakides L, Kaloyirou C, Lindsay G. An analysis of the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire using the Rasch measurement model. Br J Educ Psychol. 2006; 76(4):781-801.
Nworgu OS. Prevalence and profile of bullying practices International Journal of Mental Health Promotion. 2010; 12(2): 4-6. Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623730.2013.857824. Accessed 18/06/2016.
Ndebele C, Msiza D. Prevalence and effects of bullying at Sitzweschool. Studies of Tribes and Tribals. 2010; 12 (1): 113-123.
United Nation Children Education Fund. The scope and impact of bullying. 2014; 3-4. Available from http://www.unicef.org/campaigns_teachrespect. Accessed 15/06/2015.
Sultana AM, Lazim AS. A general understanding of polygamy: problems and prospects. Ozean Journal of Social Sciences. 2010; 3(2): 188-190.
Robers S, Kemp J, Truman J. Indicators of school crime and safety. National center for education statistics. 2013; 5-6. Available from http://nces.ed.gov. Accessed 17/06/2016.
Sansone RA, Sansone LA. Bully Victims: Psychological and Somatic Aftermaths. Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2008 Jun; 5(6): 62–64.
Committee on the Biological and Psychosocial Effects of Peer Victimization: Lessons for Bullying Prevention; Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Committee on Law and Justice; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Health and Medicine Division; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Rivara F, Le Menestrel S, editors. Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2016 Sep 14. 4, Consequences of Bullying Behavior. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK390414/ Accessed 1/06/17
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 The Nigerian Health Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Journal is owned, published and copyrighted by the Nigerian Medical Association, River state Branch. The copyright of papers published are vested in the journal and the publisher. In line with our open access policy and the Creative Commons Attribution License policy authors are allowed to share their work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations. While the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
TNHJ also supports open access archiving of articles published in the journal after three months of publication. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g, in institutional repositories or on their website) within the stated period, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). All requests for permission for open access archiving outside this period should be sent to the editor via email to editor@tnhjph.com.
