Prevalence and factors associated with bullying in public grade 5 and 6 elementary pupils in Quezon City

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND@# Bullying most often occurs in the school environment and can affect the social climate of the school as well as the surrounding community. Bullying interferes with learning and student development, and its long-term social and emotional ramifications are solely underestimated. @*OBJECTIVES@#To identify the prevalence and common risk factors for bullying among grade 5 and 6 students in a public elementary school in Quezon City.@*METHODS@#This is a prospective cross-sectional study where in prevalence rate of bullying and the associated risk factors of bullying were analyzed. The Illinois Bullying Scale (IBS) was used to measure the prevalence of bullying. @*RESULTS@#A total of 166 students between 10-12 years old of age participated in the study. All the respondents were old students. Majority of them were male (53.61%). Nine of ten students were Catholics. Majority of the fathers and half of the mothers were employed. The prevalence of bullying was at 15.66%. There was 18% prevalence of bullying on the victim subscale, 13.86% on the bully subscale, and 15.66% on the fight subscale.@*CONCLUSION@#Males have increased bully scores compared to female for both bully and fight subscales. Other factors such as being overweight or underweight, educational levels of parents, socioeconomic status, composition of the families play no significant association with bullying among students in public school. Schools and parents should become familiar with the school‘s definition of bullying, bullying prevention policies and the code of conduct.