Bullying among Brazilian adolescents: evidence from the National Survey of School Health, Brazil, 2015 and 2019.
Deborah Carvalho Malta, Wanderlei Abadio de Oliveira, Elton Junio Sady Prates and 3 others
PMID 36197389WHAT IT FOUND
In 2019, 23.0% of Brazilian students reported being bullied twice or more in the last 30 days, and 13.2% reported cyberbullying.
Bullying a colleague fell from 20.4% in 2015 to 12.0% in 2019.
Key findings
01In 2019, 23.0% of students aged 13 to 17 reported being bullied twice or more in the last 30 days, and 26.5% of girls reported being bullied.
02In 2019, 13.2% of students reported cyberbullying, and the highest prevalence was among girls at 16.2%.
03In the comparable bullying indicator, the prevalence of bullying a colleague decreased from 20.4% in 2015 to 12.0% in 2019.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that bullying causes health problems or that any intervention reduced bullying. Only two indicators were similar enough to compare across 2015 and 2019 because question wording and answer options changed. The PeNSE bullying module was not previously validated, so measurement bias is possible. The survey covers students attending school, not adolescents who are out of school. The 2019 sample loss was 15.2%, and the 2015 sample loss was approximately 2.4%. The results are self-reported by adolescents.
Declared interests
Publication of the supplement was supported by PAHO/WHO, and the study was supported by Fundo Nacional de Saúde do Ministério da Saúde, grant # 25000.126.637/2018-93 (TED no. 66/2018). The funding section does not list author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the lower 2019 estimates as proof that anti-bullying actions worked. Only two indicators were comparable across editions, the questions changed, and the cross-sectional design cannot show cause.