Bullying and subjective health among adolescents at schools in Latvia and Lithuania.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence of bullying among adolescents in Latvia and Lithuania and to study its association with self-rated health, health complaints, and life satisfaction.


METHODS
A total of 3417 students in Latvia and 5626 in Lithuania were surveyed using the Health Behaviour Study among School-aged Children 2001/2002 (HBSC) questionnaire and research protocol.


RESULTS
Being a victim, bully, or bully/victim was reported by 30.1% adolescents in Latvia and 52.3% in Lithuania with the highest proportion reporting being a victim. Bullying was associated with poor subjective health and low life satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
The factors explaining the difference of bullying prevalence between both countries should be studied to develop effective anti-bullying interventions relevant to local conditions.
Gobina
Inese
I
Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Riga Stradins university, Dzirciema street 16, 1007, Riga, Latvia. inese.gobina@gmail.com
Zaborskis
Apolinaras
A
Pudule
Iveta
I
Kalnins
Ilze
I
Villerusa
Anita
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007844:Latvia; D008097:Lithuania; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires