A cross-national profile of bullying and victimization among adolescents in 40 countries.
OBJECTIVE
(1) To compare the prevalence of bullying and victimization among boys and girls and by age in 40 countries. (2) In 6 countries, to compare rates of direct physical, direct verbal, and indirect bullying by gender, age, and country.


METHODS
Cross-sectional self-report surveys including items on bullying and being bullied were obtained from nationally representative samples of 11, 13 and 15 year old school children in 40 countries, N = 202,056. Six countries (N = 29,127 students) included questions about specific types of bullying (e. g., direct physical, direct verbal, indirect).


RESULTS
Exposure to bullying varied across countries, with estimates ranging from 8.6% to 45.2% among boys, and from 4.8% to 35.8% among girls. Adolescents in Baltic countries reported higher rates of bullying and victimization, whereas northern European countries reported the lowest prevalence. Boys reported higher rates of bullying in all countries. Rates of victimization were higher for girls in 29 of 40 countries. Rates of victimization decreased by age in 30 of 40 (boys) and 25 of 39 (girls) countries.


CONCLUSIONS
There are lessons to be learned from the current research conducted in countries where the prevalence is low that could be adapted for use in countries with higher prevalence.
Craig
Wendy
W
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada. wendy.craig@queensu.ca
Harel-Fisch
Yossi
Y
Fogel-Grinvald
Haya
H
Dostaler
Suzanne
S
Hetland
Jorn
J
Simons-Morton
Bruce
B
Molcho
Michal
M
de Mato
Margarida Gaspar
MG
Overpeck
Mary
M
Due
Pernille
P
Pickett
William
W
D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D019548:Crime Victims; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D014481:United States