Individual and contextual factors associated with verbal bullying among Brazilian adolescents.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have been carried out in low- middle-income countries assessing contextual characteristics associated with bullying. This study aimed to assess the relative importance of contextual (school and city) and individual-level factors to explain the variance in verbal bullying among a nationally representative sample of Brazilian adolescents.


METHODS
59,348 students from 1,453 schools and 26 state capitals and the Federal District participated in the National Survey of School Health among 9th Grade Students (PeNSE, 2009). We performed multilevel logistic regression in a three level model (individual, school and city).


RESULTS
The 30-day prevalence of verbal bullying among these students was 14.2%. We found that 1.8% and 0.3% of the total variance in bullying occurred at school-level and city-level, respectively, and 97.9% at individual-level. At city-level, all factors included failed to demonstrate a significant association with bullying (p < 0.05) whereas at school-level, private schools presented more bullying than public schools (OR = 1.17, CI 1.04-1.31). At individual-level, male gender, younger age, not living with both parents, exposed to domestic violence, under or overweight were all associated with bullying.


CONCLUSIONS
All socioeconomic indicators assessed contributed little to explain the variance in bullying at individual, school or city-level. Population subgroups at risk identified according to their individual profile could be targeted in future interventions in Brazil.
Federal University of Uberlandia - School of Medicine (Universidade Federal de Uberlândia - Faculdade de Medicina), Av. Pará, n° 1720, Bloco 2U, sala 20. Campus Umuarama. Bairro Umuarama, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, 38.405-320, Brasil. catarina@famed.ufu.br.|University of Sao Paulo - School of Medicine (Universidade de São Paulo - Faculdade de Medicina), Av. Dr. Arnaldo 455, 1° andar, São Paulo, São Paulo, 01246-903, Brasil. catarina@famed.ufu.br.
Catarina Machado
CM
Azeredo
University of Sao Paulo - School of Medicine (Universidade de São Paulo - Faculdade de Medicina), Av. Dr. Arnaldo 455, 1° andar, São Paulo, São Paulo, 01246-903, Brasil. rlevy@usp.br.
Renata Bertazzi
RB
Levy
Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Centre for Global Mental Health, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK. Ricardo.Araya@lshtm.ac.uk.
Ricardo
R
Araya
University of Sao Paulo - School of Medicine (Universidade de São Paulo - Faculdade de Medicina), Av. Dr. Arnaldo 455, 1° andar, São Paulo, São Paulo, 01246-903, Brasil. pmenezes@usp.br.
Paulo Rossi
PR
Menezes
D000293:Adolescent; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D058445:Bullying / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002947:Cities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors