Association Between Bullying Victimization and Health Risk Behaviors Among High School Students in the United States*

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Sch Health
• Personal Author:
  Hertz, Marci Feldman ; Jones, Sherry Everett ; Barrios, Lisa ; David-Ferdon, Corinne ; Holt, Melissa
• Description:
  BACKGROUND
  
  Childhood exposure to adverse experiences has been associated with adult asthma, smoking, sexually transmitted disease, obesity, substance use, depression, and sleep disturbances. Conceptualizing bullying as an adverse childhood experience, 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data were used to examine the relationship between in-person and electronic bullying victimization among US high school students and health risk behaviors and conditions related to violence, substance use, sexual risk, overweight and physical activity, sleep, and asthma.
  
  METHODS
  
  Data were from the 2011 national YRBS among students who answered questions about in-person and electronic bullying (N=13,846). The YRBS is a biennial, nationally representative survey of students in grades 9–12 (overall response rate=71%). Logistic regression analyses, stratified by sex and controlling for race/ethnicity and grade, examined the association between bullying victimization and health risk behaviors or conditions.
  
  RESULTS
  
  Rates of victimization varied; 9.4% of students reported being bullied in-person and electronically, 10.8% only bullied in-person, 6.8% only electronically bullied, and 73.0% uninvolved. Bullying was associated with nearly all health risk behaviors and conditions studied.
  
  CONCLUSION
  
  Assessing the broad functioning and behaviors of victims of bullying could enable educators and health practitioners to intervene early and promote the long-term health of youth.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Bullying Crime Victims Female Health Behavior Humans Logistic Models Male Risk-Taking Students Surveys And Questionnaires United States

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• Keywords:
  Adolescents Adverse Childhood Experiences Bullying Electronic Bullying Health Risk Behaviors
• Source:
  J Sch Health. 85(12):833-842
• Pubmed ID:
  26522172
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4721503
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  85
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:338adfbcced8d6546b0b82ba0e5ecb7835135146e4e2efbd6904696a92d35e83
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/37665/cdc_37665_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 363.40 KB ]