Existing users Log In New users Sign up


Bullying and its Effect on Mental Wellbeing of the Students

DISCOVERIES REPORTS (ISSN 2393249X), 2020, volume 3

CITATION: 

Bokhari U, Shoaib U, Ijaz D, Hafeez F, Aftab RH, Ijaz M. Bullying and its Effect on Mental Wellbeing of the Students: A Case Study in Two Different Schools. Discoveries Reports 2020, 3: e12. DOI: 10.15190/drep.2020.6

 Submitted: Oct. 11, 2020; Revised: Nov. 23, 2020; Accepted: Nov. 24, 2020; Published: Dec. 30, 2020;

 GO BACK to 2020, VOLUME 3

 GO BACK to DISCOVERIES REPORTS

Bullying and its Effect on Mental Wellbeing of the Students: A Case Study in Two Different Schools

Uswah Bokhari (1), Uswah Shoaib (1), Farhat Ijaz (1,*), Farida Hafeez (1), Rana Khurram Aftab (2), Musarrat Ijaz (3)

(1) CMH Lahore Medical College & Institute of Dentistry (NUMS), Lahore, Pakistan

(2) Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Pakistan

(3) The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan

*Correspondence to: Dr. Farhat Ijaz, MBBS, MPhil. Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, CMH Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry (NUMS), Lahore, Pakistan. Email: farhat_khurram_rana@cmhlahore.edu.pk

Abstract

Background: Bullying can be a major problem for many children at most schools. Traditionally, bullying is associated with lower academic achievements and generally lower life satisfaction in a child’s primary years of life. Previous studies exploring the effects of bullying on positive psychological constructs of a child have shown varying results.

Objectives: This study is aimed to analyze the degree of bullying in two different schools of Lahore and evaluate its effect on the positive mental wellbeing of the students of each institution. 

Methods: 381 participants were selected from two schools of Lahore, Pakistan: Sacred Heart Convent and Ibne Sina College. The students selected were from grades 6 to 10. The severity of bullying was analyzed by using a questionnaire designed using the Victimization Scale and the WHO-5 Scale. The scores were calculated for each school and the results were compared for victimization and positive mental wellbeing.

Results: The mean score for victimization was 8.90 at the Ibne Sina College and 5.89 at the Sacred Heart Convent, which means the incidence of bullying was higher at Ibne Sina College. According to WHO Wellbeing Index, the mental wellbeing was also higher at Ibne Sina College, with 60.7% of students reporting a score higher than 13, as compared to 48.6% from Sacred Heart Convent.

Conclusion: These results suggest that in Pakistan, the rate of traditional bullying is higher among students of co-educational school i.e., students of both genders in the same school or college, however, they also report higher general happiness and lower risk for depression. Irrespectively, there is a need to incorporate the promotion of anti-bullying programs and promote positive health as an integral part of the curriculums in school.  

Access full text of the manuscript here: 

References

1. Gladden R, Vivolo-Kantor A, Hamburger M, Lumpkin C. Bullying Surveillance Among Youths: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements, Version 1.0. 2014; https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullying-definitions-final-a.pdf

2. McDougall P, Vaillancourt T. Long-term adult outcomes of peer victimization in childhood and adolescence: Pathways to adjustment and maladjustment. American Psychologist. 2015;70, 300-310.

3. Haynie D, Nansel T, Eitel P, Crump A. D, Saylor K, Yu K et al. Bullies, victims, and bully/victims: Distinct groups of at-risk youth. The Journal of Early Adolescence. 2001;21: 29-49.

4. Ersilia M, Christina S. Bullying in schools: the state of knowledge and effective interventions. Psychology, Health and Medicine. 2017;22(1):240-253

5. Bevilacqua L, Shackleton N, Hale D, Allen E, Bond L, Christie D, et al. The role of family and school-level factors in bullying and cyberbullying: A cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatrics. 2017;17(1):160.

6. Flaspohler PD, Elfstrom JL, Vanderzee KL, Sink HE, Birchmeier Z. Stand by me: The effects of peer and teacher support in mitigating the impact of bullying on quality of life. Psychology in the Schools. 2019; 46:636-649.

7. Fullchange A, Furlong MJ. An exploration of effects of bullying victimization from a complete mental health perspective. Sage Open. 2016; 6(1):215824401562359.

8. Orpinas P. Skills training and social influences for violence prevention in middle schools: A curriculum evaluation (Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas-Houston, School of Public Health). Dissertation Abstracts International. 1993; 94-01778.

9. Bech P, Olsen LR, Kjoller M, Rasmussen NK. Measuring well-being rather than the absence of distress symptoms: a comparison of the SF-36 Mental Health subscale and the WHO-Five Well-Being Scale. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2003; 12(2):85-91.

10. Michael L, Sulkowski, Simmons J. The protective role of teacher–student relationships against peer victimization and psychosocial distress. Psychology in the Schools. 2017; 55(2);137-150.

11. Garner PW, Hinton TS. Emotional display rules and emotion self-regulation: Associations with bullying and victimization in community-based after school programs. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology. 2010; 20:480-496.

12. Kokkinos CM, Kipritsi E. The relationship between bullying, victimization, trait emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and empathy among preadolescents. Social Psychology of Education. 2012; 15:41-58.

13. Bogart LM, Elliott MN, Klein DJ, Tortolero SR, Mrug S et al. (2014). Peer Victimization in Fifth Grade and Health in Tenth Grade. Pediatrics. 2014; 133(3):440-447

14. Zhang H, Zhou H, Cao R. Bullying Victimization Among Left-Behind Children in Rural China: Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2019; 886260519843287

15. José AJB, Alejandro JL, David GC, Vicente JBC, Laura LZ, José ARH. Physical education and school bullying: a systematic review, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. 2020; 25(1)79-100. 

16. Kvarme LG, Helseth S, Sæteren B, Natvig GK. School children’s experience of being bullied–and how they envisage their dream day. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences. 2010; 24:791-798.

17. Flaspohler PD, Elfstrom JL, Vanderzee KL, Sink HE, Birchmeier Z. Stand by me: The effects of peer and teacher support in mitigating the impact of bullying on quality of life. Psychology in the Schools. 2009; 46:636-649.

18. Bradshaw CP, Waasdorp TE, Johnson SL. Overlapping verbal, relational, physical, and electronic forms of bullying in adolescence: Influence of school context. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. 2015; 44:494-508.

19. Tofi MM, Farrington DP. Risk and protective factors, longitudinal research, and bullying prevention. New Directions for Youth Development, 2012; 85-98. 

News & Events Latest news from Discoveries Reports

  • 2022| New website!

    Access the new website of DISCOVERIES REPORTS at: discoveries-reports.com. 

  • 2021, July| 2021, Jul-Aug

    Due to the high volume of the submitted articles, both Discoveries Reports and Discoveries are experiencing processing and publication delays in the months of July and August 2021. We will get back to the normal processing and publication times starting in September/October 2021. Note that our editorial and administrativ work is fully funded by the publishing house at this time and we are striving to KEEP THE NO FEE/NO CHARGE strategy in place as long as possible. 

  • 2020, April | For Authors!

    WE DO NOT TOLERATE ANY MISCONDUCT! Please be aware that we are testing all received articles with specialized software for PLAGIARISM and WE WILL TAKE MEASURES if your article is already published or in consideration for publication by other journals! This may result in serious profesional consequences for the authors. The latest striking case is the following article which is already published and was re-submitted to Discoveries.  

  • 2015 | Indexed by Google Scholar

    All our published articles are now indexed by Google Scholar! First citations to articles published in Discoveries Reports are included! Search for the article's title (recommended) or the authors:

    Google Scholar Search
  • 2014 | Discoveries Reports

    DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) are now assigned to all our published manuscripts in Discoveries Reports. DOI uniquely identifies an article and is provided by CrossRef.

    CrossRef
  • 2014 | Manuscript Submission

    Submit your manuscript FREE, FAST and EASY ! (in less than 1 minute)
    There are NO fees for the manucript submission or publishing of the accepted manuscripts.

    read more
  • 2014 | DISCOVERIES REPORTS

    We are now ACCEPTING MANUSCRIPTS for DISCOVERIES REPORTS, publishing inovative and important research findings from all areas related to Medicine, Biology and Chemistry. We are also accepting experimental articles that validate/invalidate highly used reagents in current publications (ex. antibodies) and selected articles presenting negative data with impact and of wide scientific interest ...

    read more
Member Login
Free Registration Click here to sign up
Copyright © 2013 Applied Systems. All Rights Reserved.