Asian Nursing Research
Volume 5, Issue 2 , Pages 81-87, June 2011

Relationship Between Bullying and Health Problems in Primary School Children

  • Hulya Karatas, MSc, RN

      Affiliations

    • Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, School of Nursing, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Hulya Karatas, MSC, RN, School of Nursing, Dokuz Eylul University, Inciralti, 35340, Izmir, Turkey
    • ,
  • Candan Ozturk, RN, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Associate Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey

Received 20 January 2011; received in revised form 17 May 2011; accepted 17 May 2011.

Article Outline

Purpose

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between bullying and exposure to bullying and the health problems in the primary school children.

Methods

This study was conducted on 92 parents and 92 students who were sixth grade students in two primary schools in Izmir. The data were collected using the Peer Bullying Scale Adolescent Form and the Identification of Health Problems Form. The data were analyzed through χ2 analysis and odds ratios with a 95% confidence interval.

Results

About forty-nine percent of the students (48.9%) was male, 51.1% of them was female and the average age was 11.6 ± 0.53 years. It was found that students who had high scores for being exposed to bullying were significantly more likely to experience headache, feeling bad, crying restlessness, nervousness, sleeping problems, dizziness; whereas students who had high bullying scores were significantly more likely to experience only poor appetite.

Conclusions

Students exposed to bullying have more health problems than the bullying students. It is recommended that programs designed to prevent the negative effects of bullying be developed.

Key Words:  bullying , children , school health , primary school

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PII: S1976-1317(11)60016-9

doi:10.1016/S1976-1317(11)60016-9

Asian Nursing Research
Volume 5, Issue 2 , Pages 81-87, June 2011

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