Citation

Elgar FJ, Pickett KE, Pickett W, Craig WM, Molcho M, Hurrelmann K, Lenzi M. Int. J. Public Health 2013; 58(2): 237-245.

Affiliation

Institute for Health and Social Policy, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Frank.Elgar@mcgill.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00038-012-0380-y

PMID

22714137

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relation between income inequality and school bullying (perpetration, victimisation and bully/victims) and explore whether the relation is attributable to international differences in violent crime. METHODS: Between 1994 and 2006, the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study surveyed 117 nationally representative samples of adolescents about their involvement in school bullying over the previous 2 months. Country prevalence rates of bullying were matched to data on income inequality and homicides. RESULTS: With time and country differences held constant, income inequality positively related to the prevalence of bullying others at least twice (b = 0.25), victimisation by bullying at least twice (b = 0.29) and both bullied and victimisation at least twice (b = 0.40). The relation between income inequality and victimisation was partially mediated by country differences in homicides. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the social determinants of school bullying facilitates anti-bullying policy by identifying groups at risk and exposing its cultural and economic influences. This study found that cross-national differences in income inequality related to the prevalence of school bullying in most age and gender groups due, in part, to a social milieu of interpersonal violence.

Language: en