Elsevier

The Journal of Pediatrics

Volume 152, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 123-128.e1
The Journal of Pediatrics

Original article
Bullying and School Safety

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2007.05.045Get rights and content

Objective

To identify an association between involvement in bullying and problems in school.

Study design

This was a cross-sectional study of 5391 students in grades 7, 9, and 11 in an urban public school district. The main outcome measure was involvement in bullying. Secondary outcomes included attendance, grade point average, psychosocial distress, and perceived acceptability of carrying guns to school.

Results

Of the 5391 children surveyed, 26% were involved in bullying either as victim, bully, or both (bully-victim). All 3 groups were significantly more likely than bystanders to feel unsafe at school and sad most days. Victims and bully-victims were more likely to say they are “no good.” Victims were more likely to feel that they “do not belong” in their school. The odds of being a victim (vs a bystander) were 10% lower for every 1 point increase in grade point average. Bully-victims were more likely to say that it is “not wrong” to take a gun to school.

Conclusions

Associations between involvement in bullying and academic achievement, psychological distress, and the belief that it is not wrong to take a gun to school reinforce the notion that school environment is interrelated with mental health and school success.

Section snippets

Methods

A large, urban public school district in a US west coast city agreed to participate in this study. The school district annually surveys students to determine how the school climate can be improved to better serve the students. Researchers involved with this study first approached the school district involved to discuss a potential collaborative study regarding bullying. The school district then offered to incorporate questions submitted by the researchers into their existing annual survey, with

Results

Youth in grades 7, 9, and 11 in 20 schools in an urban US school district were surveyed. Of the total of 6836 students enrolled in the schools, 5391 (79%) participated in the survey. Overall, 15% (796) of students surveyed reported being bullied but did not bully others, 7% (387) bullied others but were not bullied themselves, and 4% (195) were bully-victims. The remaining 74% (4013) reported no direct involvement in bullying and were categorized as bystanders. Only 27% of the students defined

Discussion

The National Household Education Survey of 1993 revealed that approximately 50% of students in grades 6 to 12 use strategies to avoid harm at school. Not only being victimized, but even simply witnessing bullying increased the likelihood that a student used a strategy to avoid harm.27 Many lawsuits have been filed over school districts’ failure to protect students being bullied at school.28, 29 DuRant et al30 reported a subgroup of students who have been victimized at school, are afraid to go

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    None of the authors has any conflict of interest to disclose. This study was a collaborative effort between the school district and the authors. All costs were covered by the school district.

    1

    Dr. Glew was supported by National Research Scientist Award Fellowships from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH20021-06 and MH 20021-07).

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