title: Bullying at school: Agreement between caregivers' and children's perception.
abstract: Bullying at school is usually kept secret from adults, making them unaware of the situation.
  
  
  
  To describe caregivers' and children's perception and assess their agreement in terms of bullying situations.
  
  
  
  Cross-sectional study in children aged 8-12 years old attending public schools and their caregivers. The questionnaire on preconceptions of intimidation and bullying among peers (PRECONCIMEI) (child/caregiver version) was used. Studied outcome measures: Scale of bullying, causes of bullying, child involvement in bullying, communication in bullying situations. Univariate and bivariate analyses were done and agreement was estimated using the Kappa index.
  
  
  
  A total of 529 child/caregiver dyads participated. Among caregivers, 35% stated that bullying occurred in their children's schools. Among children, 133 (25%) admitted to being involved: 70 (13%) were victims of bullying, 40 (8%) were bullies, and 23 (4%) were bullied and perpetrated bullying. Among the 63 caregivers of children who admitted to be bullies, 78% did not consider their children capable of perpetrating bullying. Among children who were bullied or who both suffered bullying and bullied others, 69.9% (65/93) indicated that "if they were the victims of bullying, they would tell their family." However, 89.2% (83/93) of caregivers considered that their children would tell them if they were ever involved in these situations. Agreement was observed in terms of a positive communication (Kappa = -0.04) between 62.6% (57/91) of the child/caregiver dyads school bullying.
  
  
  
  Disagreement was observed between children and their caregivers in relation to the frequency and communication of bullying situations. Few caregivers whose children admitted to being involved in these situations believed it was a possibility.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. lucas.duran@uns.edu.ar.
authors.forename: Lucas G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Durán
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Jordán C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Scherñuk Schroh
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Estefanía P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Panizoni
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Ezequiel F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Jouglard
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Matemática, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M Gabriela
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Serralunga
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Esandi
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D058445:Bullying; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012574:Schools; D057566:Self Report
keywords: child; parent-child relationship; parents; school bullying; surveys and questionnaires