Risk and protective factors associated with being bullied on school property compared with cyberbullied

Ray M. Merrill, Carl L. Hanson

We identified bullying victimization (bullied on school property versus cyberbullied) by selected demographic, personal characteristic, and behavior variables. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on adolescents (n = 13,583) completing the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in grades 9 through 12. Being bullied on school property in the past 12 months was significantly more common in females than males, in earlier school grades, and in Whites and other racial groups compared with Blacks and Hispanics. Being bullied on school property generally decreased with later school grades, but cyberbullying in the past 12 months remained constant. Being bullied on school property or cyberbullied was significantly positively associated with mental health problems, substance use, being overweight, playing video games for 3 or more hours per day, and having asthma. The association was greatest with having mental health problems. Cyberbullying was generally more strongly associated with these conditions and behaviors. Protective behaviors against bullying victimization included eating breakfast every day, being physically active, and playing on sports teams. Those experiencing victimization on school property and cyberbullying were significantly more likely to experience mental health problems compared with just one of these types of bullying or neither. Cyberbullying victimization is generally more strongly associated with mental health problems, substance use, being overweight, playing video games for 3 or more hours per day, and having asthma than bullying victimization on school property. However, because bullying on school property is more common in grades 9-11, this form of bullying has a greater burden on these conditions and behaviors in these school grades.