Bullying Victimization in School Adolescents

Bullying victimization is a serious problem among in-school adolescents. Because of limited reports on bullying among adolescents in Benin, a study was conducted to determine the prevalence and correlates for bullying victimization among school-going adolescents in Benin. Secondary analysis of data was conducted using the 2009 Benin Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) data. Logistic regression analyses were done to estimate associations between the outcome (bullying victimization) and selected explanatory variables. Out of 2,690 in-school adolescents, 49.3% were of age 16 years or older, 66.9% were males and 40.1% reported having been bullied at least once in the previous 30 days to the survey (39.2% among boys versus 42.0% among girls). Male adolescents were 11% (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.89; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.88-0.90) less likely to be bullied compared to female adolescents. Participants who drank alcohol were 45% more likely to be bullied than those who did not drink alcohol (AOR = 1.45; 95% CI 1.43-1.47). Adolescents who smoked cigarettes were 24% (AOR = 1.24; 95% CI 1.21-1.28) more likely to be bullied compared to non-smokers. Those who reported being involved in physical fighting were 77% more likely to be bullied than those who were not involved in physical fighting (AOR=1.77; 95% CI 1.75-1.79). Adolescents who had parental supervision were 10% (AOR = 0.90; 95% CI 0.89, 0.91) less likely to be bullied than those who did not have parental supervision. Efforts to prevent and control bullying should take into consideration the factors identified in this study.