Forms of bullying reported by middle-school students in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Nationally representative data from more than 25,000 middle-school students in 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean who participated in the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) between 2004 and 2009 were analyzed. The proportion of students by country who reported being the victim of a bully in the past month ranged from 17% to 39%. None of the countries had statistically significant differences in bullying prevalence by sex. For girls, the most common form of bullying reported in 14 countries was appearance-based (‘made fun of because of how the body or face looks’). For boys, physical aggression (‘being hit, kicked, pushed, shoved around, or locked indoors’) was the most common form in 10 countries and appearance-based bullying was the most common form reported in 4 countries. School-based anti-bullying efforts in this region must address a variety of bullying mechanisms as well as contributing factors such as body dissatisfaction.

Keywords::

• adolescents
• bullying
• schools
• social behavior
• body image
• aggression