Citation

Chanda P, Chirwa M, Mwale AT, Nakazwe KC, Kabembo IM, Nkole B. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2024; 21(7).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph21070863

PMID

39063440

PMCID

PMC11276897

Abstract

Existing research has documented the association between bullying perpetration and bullying victimisation. However, it is still unclear how different sources of social support moderate the association between bullying perpetration and bullying victimisation at a cross-national level. Using multilevel binary logistic regression models, this study examined the moderating role of public health care spending and perceived social support (i.e., family and teacher support) in the association between traditional bullying perpetration and victimisation by traditional bullying and cyberbullying among adolescents across 27 European countries. Country-level data were combined with 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey data from 162,792 adolescents (11-, 13-, and 15-year-olds) in 27 European countries.

RESULTS showed that adolescents who perpetrated traditional bullying had a higher likelihood of being victimised by traditional bullying and cyberbullying than adolescents who did not bully others.

RESULTS also indicated that the magnitude of the positive association between traditional bullying perpetration and victimisation by traditional bullying and cyberbullying was mitigated among adolescents with more family, teacher, and public health care support. These findings support the notion that multilayered systems of social support could play a vital role in bullying prevention and intervention strategies to address bullying among adolescents.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Child; Female; Male; Adolescent; adolescents; Europe; social support; cyberbullying; *Social Support; *Bullying/statistics & numerical data/psychology; *Crime Victims/statistics & numerical data/psychology; *Cyberbullying/psychology/statistics & numerical data; health care spending; traditional bullying