Income Inequality and School Bullying: Multilevel Study of Adolescents in 37 Countries
Received 31 December 2008; accepted 6 April 2009. published online 19 June 2009.
Refers to article:
Bullying: We Need to Increase Our Efforts and Broaden Our Focus
Pierre-André Michaud
Journal of Adolescent Health
October 2009 (Vol. 45, Issue 4, Pages 323-325) Full Text |
Full-Text PDF (201 KB)
Abstract
Purpose
To examine the association between income inequality and school bullying in an international sample of preadolescents and to test for mediation of this association by the availability of social support from families, peers, and schools.
Methods
The study used economic data from the 2006 United Nations Development Program Human Development Report and survey data from the 2005/2006 Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study which included 66,910 11-year-olds in 37 countries. Ecological correlations tested associations between income inequality and bullying among countries. Multilevel linear and ordinal regression analyses tested the effects of income inequality on perceived social support and bullying others at school.
Results
Income inequality was associated with rates of bullying among the 37 countries (r = .62). Multilevel analyses indicated that each standard deviation increase in income inequality corresponded with more frequent bullying by males (odds ratio = 1.17) and females (odds ratio = 1.24), less family support and school support but more peer support. Social support from families and schools was associated with less bullying after differences in wealth were taken into account; however, social support did not account for the association between income inequality and bullying.
Conclusions
Countries with high income inequality have more school bullying among preadolescents than countries with low income inequality. Further study is needed to understand the mechanisms that account for this association. Findings suggest that adolescents in areas of wide income inequality—not only those in deprived schools and neighborhoods— should be a focus of antibullying campaigns.
aDepartment of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
bDepartment of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
cDepartment of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
dChild and Adolescent Health Research Unit, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
Address correspondence to: Frank J. Elgar, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1S 5B6.
ABSTRACT