THE ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS AND PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENTS AMONG THE PEER VICTIMISED ADOLESCENTS IN MALAYSIA: A POPULATION-BASED NATIONWIDE STUDY
Abstract
The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of victimisation among Malaysian school-attending adolescents with the associated risk factors; and the psychosocial impacts among victims. All data was obtained from the Global School Health Survey Malaysia (GSHS-M), where 25,461 students aged 13-18 years and from 234 randomly selected schools were recruited using a two-stage cluster sampling design. Data were analysed descriptively and multivariable logistic regression using SPSS version 20.0. About one-fifth of the respondents reported being victimised at least once in the past 30-days. The most prevalent type of bullying is making fun of gender and body image. Multivariable logistic regression analysis substantiated that the likelihood of victimisation was higher among the boys, students of the lower secondary form, those without a close friend, and the obese respondents. In addition, victims without parental support were more likely to miss school (aOR 0.81, 95% CI 0.59-1.13), considered suicide (aOR 1.60, 95% CI 1.18-2.18), make a suicide plan (aOR 1.45, 95% CI 2.01-1.08), as well as attempted suicide at least once in the past 12 months (aOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.33-0.69). Overall, specially tailored intervention strategies are pivotal in addressing school bullying among secondary school-going adolescents, particularly to minimise the physical and psychosocial impact among the victims.
References
Menesini E, Salmivalli C. Bullying in schools: the state of knowledge and effective interventions. Psychology, health & medicine. 2017 Mar 6;22(sup1):240-53.
Källmén H, Hallgren M. Bullying at school and mental health problems among adolescents: a repeated cross-sectional study. Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health. 2021 Dec;15(1):1-7.
Moore SE, Norman RE, Suetani S, Thomas HJ, Sly PD, Scott JG. Consequences of bullying victimization in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analysis. World journal of psychiatry. 2017 Mar 22;7(1):60.
McDougall P, Vaillancourt T. Long-term adult outcomes of peer victimization in childhood and adolescence: Pathways to adjustment and maladjustment. American Psychologist. 2015 May;70(4):300.
Craig W, Harel-Fisch Y, Fogel-Grinvald H, et al. A cross-national profile of bullying and victimization among adolescents in 40 countries. International journal of public health. 2009;54(2):216-24.
Bjärehed M, Thornberg R, Wänström L, Gini G. Mechanisms of moral disengagement and their associations with indirect bullying, direct bullying, and pro-aggressive bystander behaviour. The Journal of Early Adolescence. 2020 Jan;40(1):28-55.
Olthof T, Goossens FA, Vermande MM, et al. Bullying as strategic behaviour: Relations with desired and acquired dominance in the peer group. Journal of school psychology. 2017;49(3):339-59.
Jiménez-Barbero JA, Ruiz-Hernández JA, Llor-Zaragoza L, Pérez-García M, Llor-Esteban B. Effectiveness of anti-bullying school programs: A meta-analysis. Children and Youth Services Review. 2016 Feb 1;61:165-75.
Nguyen AJ, Bradshaw C, Townsend L, Bass J. Prevalence and correlates of bullying victimization in four low-resource countries. Journal of interpersonal violence. 2020 Oct;35(19-20):3767-90.
Fleming LC, Jacobsen KH. Bullying among middle-school students in low and middle-income countries. Health promotion international. 2010;25(1):73-84.
Ministry of Education Malaysia Report, 2016.
Yahaya AH, Ahmad AL. Persepsi guru dan pelajar terhadap perlakuan buli di kalangan pelajar sekolah menengah daerah Batu Pahat. Sains Humanika. 2005;15;43(1).
Khalid M, Md Johan O. Tingkah Laku Buli dalam Kalangan Pelajar Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama di Sarawak (Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia).2007.
Noran-Fauziah Y. Tingkah laku buli di sekolah: Apa yang boleh kita lakukan. In Third Principle Conference. Universiti Malaya 2004 Mar (Vol. 17). 2004.
Bradshaw CP. Translating research to practice in bullying prevention. American Psychologist. 2015;70(4):322.
Aboujaoude E, Savage MW, Starcevic V, et al. Cyberbullying: Review of an old problem gone viral. Journal of adolescent health. 2015;57(1):10-8.
Lee J. Pathways from childhood bullying victimization to young adult depressive and anxiety symptoms. Child Psychiatry & Human Development. 2021 Feb;52(1):129-40.
Tan L, Ganapathy SS, Sooryanarayana R, et al. Bullying victimization among school-going adolescents in Malaysia: prevalence and associated factors. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health. 2019;31(8_suppl):18S-29S.
Lima CA, Maia MD, Brito MF, Pinho LD, Silveira MF. Psychometric properties of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) instrument in Brazilian college students. Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto). 2020 Mar 27;30.
Institute for Public Health. The National Health and Morbidity Survey: Malaysia Global School-Based Student Health Survey 2012. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Ministry of Health; 2012.
Pengpid S, Peltzer K. Bullying and its associated factors among school-aged adolescents in Thailand. The Scientific World Journal. 2013;2013.
Aboagye RG, Seidu AA, Hagan JE, Frimpong JB, Budu E, Adu C, Ayilu RK, Ahinkorah BO. A multi-country analysis of the prevalence and factors associated with bullying victimisation among in-school adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from the global school-based health survey. BMC psychiatry. 2021 Dec;21(1):1-0.
Carlerby H, Viitasara E, Knutsson A, et al. How bullying involvement is associated with the distribution of parental background and with subjective health complaints among Swedish boys and girls. Social Indicators Research. 2014;111(3):775-83.
Thomas HJ, Connor JP, Lawrence DM, Hafekost JM, Zubrick SR, Scott JG. Prevalence and correlates of bullying victimisation and perpetration in a nationally representative sample of Australian youth. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2017 Sep;51(9):909-20.
Maunder RE, Crafter S. School bullying from a sociocultural perspective. Aggression and violent behavior. 2018 Jan 1; 38:13-20.
Biswas T, Scott JG, Munir K, Thomas HJ, Huda MM, Hasan MM, de Vries TD, Baxter J, Mamun AA. Global variation in the prevalence of bullying victimisation amongst adolescents: Role of peer and parental supports. EClinicalMedicine. 2020 Mar 1; 20:100276.
Releases Report on Bullying in Malaysian Schools. National Human Right Society Malaysia, 30 January 2018 https://hakam.org.my/wp/2018/01/30/hakam-releases-report-on-bullying-in-malaysian-schools/#more-17228 [Accessed 25 February 2020].
Kljakovic M, Hunt C, Jose P. Incidence of bullying and victimisation among adolescents in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Psychology. 2015;44(2).
Smith PK, López-Castro L, Robinson S, Görzig A. Consistency of gender differences in bullying in cross-cultural surveys. Aggression and violent behavior. 2019 Mar 1;45:33-40.
McNaughton Reyes HL, Foshee VA, Chen MS, Ennett ST. Patterns of adolescent aggression and victimization: Sex differences and correlates. Journal of aggression, maltreatment & trauma. 2019 Oct 21;28(9):1130-50.
Emilson A, Folkesson AM, Lindberg IM. Gender beliefs and embedded gendered values in preschool. International Journal of Early Childhood. 2016;48(2):225-40.
Walters GD. School-age bullying victimization and perpetration: A meta-analysis of prospective studies and research. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. 2021 Dec;22(5):1129-39.
Koyanagi A, Veronese N, Vancampfort D, Stickley A, Jackson SE, Oh H, Shin JI, Haro JM, Stubbs B, Smith L. Association of bullying victimization with overweight and obesity among adolescents from 41 low‐and middle‐income countries. Pediatric obesity. 2020 Jan;15(1):e12571.
Waasdorp TE, Mehari K, Bradshaw CP. Obese and overweight youth: Risk for experiencing bullying victimization and internalizing symptoms. American journal of orthopsychiatry. 2018;88(4):483.
Zhang X, Ra CK, Zhang D, Zhang Y, MacLeod KE. The impact of school social support and bullying victimization on psychological distress among California adolescents. Californian Journal of health promotion. 2016;14(2):56.
Schoeler T, Duncan L, Cecil CM, Ploubidis GB, Pingault JB. Quasi-experimental evidence on short-and long-term consequences of bullying victimization: A meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin. 2018 Dec;144(12):1229.
Zych I, Farrington DP, Ttofi MM. Protective factors against bullying and cyberbullying: A systematic review of meta-analyses. Aggression and violent behavior. 2019 Mar 1;45:4-19.
Wang C, La Salle T, Wu C, Do KA, Sullivan KE. School climate and parental involvement buffer the risk of peer victimization on suicidal thoughts and behaviors among Asian American middle school students. Asian American journal of psychology. 2018 Dec;9(4):296.
Dvir Y, Ford JD, Hill M, et al. Childhood maltreatment, emotional dysregulation, and psychiatric comorbidities. Harvard review of psychiatry. 2014;22(3):149.
Bianchi D, Cavicchiolo E, Manganelli S, Lucidi F, Girelli L, Cozzolino M, Galli F, Alivernini F. Bullying and Victimization in Native and Immigrant Very-Low-Income Adolescents in Italy: Disentangling the Roles of Peer Acceptance and Friendship. InChild & Youth Care Forum 2021 Dec (Vol. 50, No. 6, pp. 1013-1036). Springer US.
