TY - JOUR
T1 - School bullying, homicide and income inequality
T2 - a cross-national pooled time series analysis
AU - Elgar, Frank J
AU - Pickett, Kate E
AU - Pickett, William
AU - Craig, Wendy
AU - Molcho, Michal
AU - Hurrelmann, Klaus
AU - Lenzi, Michela
PY - 2012/6/20
Y1 - 2012/6/20
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84862241283&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00038-012-0380-y
DO - 10.1007/s00038-012-0380-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 22714137
SN - 1661-8556
VL - 58
SP - 237
EP - 245
JO - International Journal of Public Health
JF - International Journal of Public Health
IS - 2
ER -