1、附录三 Bullying Among School Children:Prevalence and Association with Common Symptoms in Childhood Objective To estimate the prevalence of bullying among girls and boys in school and examine its association with psychological and psychosomatic symptoms. Bullying is defined as the intentional and unprov
2、oked abuse of power by one or more children to inflict pain or cause distress to another child on repeated occasions. Being a common and neglected form of child abuse, it not only has adverse effects on the victims academic performance but also on their physical and psychological health, the various
3、 forms of bullying being calling names,physical abuse, teasing, spreading rumors, provoking, social exclusion and threatening. Minimal studies have been conducted on this field in India. Bullying is highly prevalent in India but no steps have been taken to combat this potentially hazardous social ev
4、il. Hence, this study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of bullying in schools and its association with common childhood symptoms and to throw light upon the seriousness of the problem. This study has shown that bullying is highly prevalent in schools in this part of the country and the preval
5、ence of bullying noted in the present study(60.4%)could be one of the highest amongst studies carried out worldwide. This estimate is higher than that reported by Kshirsagar et al. who found the bullying in Maharashtra to be 31.4%.Similarly,in a study done in Newham,London,the rate was found to be o
6、nly 22.4%.Glen M Glew et al. in his study found the prevalence to be 19.1%. Also,the prevalence among boys(63.9%)was more than among girls(53%),more so in exclusively boys schools than coed schools. The age factor was directly related to bullying and it was found to be increasing with age from 813 y
7、ears then decreasing in older children,which can probably be attributed to older children being more influenced by the world around them. This is in tally with the observations of Roberto Forero et al. wherein the prevalence of bullying increased from the 6th year(31.1%)to the 8th year(35.8%)and the
8、n decreased in the 10th year(32.4%). It was seen that the most common forms of bullying were non-physical,like calling names(57.9%),followed by making fun of ones looks(15.5%)and degrading(15.2%)where as physical forms of bullying like hitting formed only 12.5%.A similar finding was made by Kshirsag
9、ar et wherein the commonest forms were calling names,followed by making fun and lastly causing physical hurt. But it must always be remembered that even non physical forms of bullying can lead to harmful effects. A pattern was noted in the forms of bullying among girls and boys wherein physical abus
10、e and making fun of ones looks was more common among boys while isolating and complaining to the teacher was more common among girls. This is probably because of the outgoing and aggressive nature of boy as compared to the softer nature of girls who are silent sufferers who prefer complaining rather
11、 than take matters into their own hands. A very characteristic finding was noted regarding the person the victim confided in.The victimsconfidence in heir friends increased with age whereas that in their teachers decreased with age.A large fraction of students chose not to confide in anyone.This sho
12、ws that many students do not take any action about getting bullied either due to fear or ignorance. Bullying is not a harmless phenomenon,but is associated with physical and psychological problems.Majority of the students reported feeling sad and depresses(39.7%)about being bullied.Of all the victim
13、s 47.3%complained of health problems while only 20.2%of students who were not bullied complained of any problems.According to the study done by Kshirsagar et al. all the bullied children reported at least one symptom,while only 52.5%of the children who were not bullied complained of any health probl
14、ems.The most common physical manifestation in the present study was seen to be headache and tummy ache followed by loose stools and fever.Headache and falling sick frequently was found to be the most common symptoms even by Kshirsagar et al. Hence,doctors should always consider bullying as a possibl
15、e reason for unexplained symptoms in children and give the appropriate psychological support. It was alarming to note that only a meager amount of 20 teachers participated in the interview and a significant number of them refused to even admit that bullying was prevalent in their school.This probabl
16、y is because of the fear of bad reputation in the minds of the teachers leading to denial of the social evil.A majority of the teachers chose to punish(58.6%)instead of counsel(5%)which highlights the inadequate training the teachers have concerning the methods of preventing bullying.The knowledge o
17、f parents regarding their children being bullied was also found to be very less,wherein only 38.9%parents agreed that their child was being bullied as compared to the 60.4% prevalence as found out on interviewing the students.In the study carried out by Kshirsagar et al. only 24%of the parents said
18、that they were aware of their child being a victim of bullying,which indicates that most bullied children did not report this to their parents thus taking away an important source of support.It was also shocking to find that parents were asking their children to compromise in a significant number of
19、 cases(47.5%)which shows that they do not consider bullying to be a problem in the first place! It was seen that the victims of bullying do not actively participate in class,had an evident decrease in general performance,developed inferiority complex and found it difficult to get along with other students.Teachers play a key role in preventing and intervening with bullying at school,but they have very little training on how to effectively deal with such problems.Hence,teachers must be educated about ways in
