Health and behavioural outcomes of bullying victimisation among Indonesian adolescent students: findings from the 2015 Global School-based Student Health Survey

Are social supports associated with suicidal ideation based on gender differences among adolescents in Indonesia?

The proportion of Indonesian junior and senior high school students considering suicide was around 5.2% in 2015. This research analysed the association between social supports and suicidal ideation based on gender differences among adolescents in Indonesia.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study analysed secondary data from the Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS). The 9,333 respondents were aged 11 to 18 years. The dependent variable was suicidal ideation in the past 12 months before the survey. The independent variables were peer support, parent support, and parent attention. The multivariable analysis applied the enter method to examine the adjusted effect causing the dependent variable.

RESULT

Boys had a higher risk than girls of considering suicide on all of the associated independent variables, including boys aged <15 years (AOR 6.134, 95% CI 4.342-8.665), boys in junior high school (AOR 3.160, 95% CI 2.205-4.528), boys with no peer support (AOR 4.230, 95% CI 2.996-5.972), boys with no parental support (AOR 2.481, 95% CI 1.686-3.650) and boys with no parental attention (AOR 3.268, 95% CI 2.292-4.658).

CONCLUSION

Boys with no peer support had a 4.230 times higher risk of suicidal ideation.

Investigating factors influencing bullying behavior reduction and gender differences in higher education: A structural equation modeling approach

In recent years, the prevalence of bullying among university students in Indonesia has continued to increase. The consequences of bullying have detrimental effects on the victims, highlighting the importance of finding ways to reduce bullying behavior. However, few studies have explored the factors that can mitigate this behavior among students. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze which determinants significantly affect the reduction of bullying behavior, with a particular focus on gender differences. This research utilizes the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) along with theories of parent-child relationships (PCR), teacher-student relationships (TSR), and peer relationships (PR) to explain bullying behavior. The study successfully collected data from 435 students in Riau, Indonesia. The results indicate that PCR and PR are key in enhancing students' attitudes towards bullying. As students' attitudes improve, bullying behavior can significantly decrease. This study successfully developed a research model to reduce bullying behavior. The findings suggest that fostering positive peer interactions and supportive parent-child dynamics are essential. Schools can apply these insights by promoting peer support systems and conflict resolution programs to reduce bullying. This study highlights the critical role of nurturing peer relationships within educational strategies to effectively address bullying behaviors.

Poly-bullying victimisation in Indonesia: Prevalence and factors related to children exposure to multiple bullying incidents, and its correlation to subjective well-being

Research on bullying in Indonesia remains limited, revealing significant gaps in understanding its prevalence and underlying factors specific to the Indonesian context. This study addresses these gaps through a three-pronged approach: (a) assessing the prevalence of poly-bullying victimisation, (b) identifying factors associated with poly-bullying experiences, and (c) evaluating subjective well-being (SWB) in cases of poly-bullying by comparing it with uninvolved children. Cummins' theory of SWB homeostasis was employed to interpret the findings. The study included 10,051 children aged 10 and 12 years (50% girls) who reported experiencing poly-bullying in the past month. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and linear regression. Poly-bullying was measured across five indicators: physical, verbal, and emotional bullying by siblings and other children at school. The analysis considered five independent variables: sociodemographic factors, perceptions of family, friends, and school, and reported fights among students. The results were statistically significant (p < 0.000), though the model explained only 5.1% of the variance in poly-bullying victimisation. Poly-bullying was prevalent in both public and non-religious schools. Significant contributors included the frequency of fights among students (β = 0.129) and the belief that friends would help (β = 0.045). The study's implications for preventing poly-bullying victimisation were also discussed.

Social anxiety and bullying victimization: A three-level meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have explored the association between social anxiety and bullying victimization. However, inconsistency are found regarding the strength and the direction of this relationship. Moreover, it remains unclear how different subtypes of bullying victimization associate with social anxiety.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to systematically investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between social anxiety and bullying victimization.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Individuals experiencing social anxiety and bullying victimization.

METHODS

The present study employed three-level random effects model to combine the correlation coefficients r to indicate the strength of the cross-sectional association between social anxiety and bullying victimization. Cross-lagged regressions were utilized to examine the prospective relationship between both variables.

RESULTS

A total of 133 cross-sectional studies reporting 220 effect sizes were included in the meta-analysis, and the results showed a significant moderate association between social anxiety and bullying victimization (r = 0.268, 95 % CI [0.244, 0.292]). Nineteen longitudinal studies were also identified, revealing that social anxiety at Time 1 significantly predicted bullying victimization at Time 2 (β = 0.067, 95 % CI [0.038, 0.096]). However, bullying victimization did not significantly predict subsequent social anxiety (β = 0.012, 95 % CI [-0.026, 0.049]). Subgroup analyses revealed that social anxiety had the strongest association with relational victimization (r = 0.382, 95 % CI [0.335, 0.430]), followed by reputational victimization (r = 0.254, 95 % CI [-0.171, 0.337]), physical victimization (r = 0.226, 95 % CI [0.144, 0.308]) and overt victimization (r = 0.202, 95 % CI [0.146, 0.257]). Social anxiety was significantly more associated with traditional bullying victimization (r = 0.281, 95 % CI [0.233, 0.328]) than cyberbullying victimization (r = 0.177, 95 % CI [0.137, 0.218]; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Social anxiety was found to be moderately associated with and prospectively predict bullying victimization. Future research and interventions could focus on reducing social anxiety to prevent bullying victimization.

Bullying at School, Cyberbullying, and Loneliness: National Representative Study of Adolescents in Denmark

AIMS

The aim was to examine how loneliness was associated with bullying victimization at school and online.

METHODS

We used data from the Danish arm of the international Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study from 2022. The study population was a nationally representative sample of 11-15-year-olds who completed the internationally standardized HBSC questionnaire at school, n = 5382. Multilevel logistic regression was applied to study the associations between bullying victimization and loneliness.

RESULTS

The prevalence of reporting loneliness often or very often was 9.0%; 6.3% of the sample experienced habitual bullying victimization at school, and 4.8% incurred cyberbullying. There was a strong and graded association between loneliness and bullying victimization at school and cyberbullying. The associations were significant for boys and girls, and the association between exposure to bullying at school and loneliness was steeper for boys than girls. The gradients were steeper for physical bullying than for cyberbullying. Students exposed to habitual bullying in both contexts had an adjusted OR (95% CI) of 11.21 (6.99-17.98) for loneliness.

CONCLUSION

Exposure to bullying at school and cyberbullying are strongly associated with loneliness. It is important to reduce bullying at school and on the internet and to promote effective interventions to reduce continuing loneliness.

Gender differences in social environmental factors of psychological distress among Indonesian adolescents: Findings from the 2015 Global School-based Student Health Survey

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to investigate gender differences in social environmental factors of psychological distress among Indonesian adolescents.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study using the data from the 2015 Indonesia Global School-based Student Health Survey. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the influences of main independent variables - social environmental factors (i.e., peer support, having close friends, bullying victimisation, physical fight, physical attack, parental supervision, connectedness, bonding), demographic characteristics, and health-related behaviours on the measures of psychological distress (loneliness, anxiety-induced sleep disturbance, and a combination of both measures as psychological distress).

RESULTS

The prevalence of psychological distress measured as loneliness, anxiety-induced sleep disturbance, and combined psychological distress was 6.12%, 4.52%, and 8.04%, respectively. Findings from multivariate analyses indicated that bullying victimisation, physical attack, experience of hunger (a proxy of socioeconomic status), and sedentary behaviour were associated with all measures of psychological distress. Meanwhile, age, gender, drug use, parental connectedness and bonding, and having no close friends were correlates of one or two measures of psychological distress. Based on gender-stratified analyses, experience of hunger, sedentary behaviour, bullying victimisation, and having no close friends were consistently associated with measures of psychological distress among both girls and boys. In addition, the influence of some social environmental factors, such as parental connectedness, peer support, and physical attack, were more salient among girls.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that social environmental factors, demographic characteristics, and health-related behaviours were associated with psychological distress, and the associations appeared to differ by gender. Interventions that include improving positive social environmental factors (e.g., reducing interpersonal violence, encouraging positive relationships with parents and peers) and promoting healthy behaviours (e.g., less sedentary behaviour, preventing substance use) might help reduce the risk of psychological distress among Indonesian adolescents.