Table 1.
Unadjusted prevalence of bullying behaviour and health symptoms in 3918 students from schools in New South Wales
| Variable | Year 6
|
Year 8
|
Year 10
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys (n=642) | Girls (n=580) | Boys (n=593) | Girls (n=810) | Boys (n=529) | Girls (n=739) | |||
| Bullying behaviour | ||||||||
| Neither bullied nor bully | 34.1 | 44.8 | 26.5 | 45.9 | 36.1 | 61.0 | ||
| Bullied | 11.5 | 18.1 | 15.5 | 13.3 | 8.5 | 9.9 | ||
| Bully | 28.5 | 17.6 | 27.5 | 21.4 | 34.0 | 17.2 | ||
| Both bullied and bully | 25.9 | 19.5 | 30.5 | 19.4 | 21.4 | 11.9 | ||
| Psychosomatic symptoms (scores)* | ||||||||
| Low (0-4) | 35.1 | 35.4 | 35.8 | 27.2 | 31.7 | 21.3 | ||
| Moderate (5-8) | 27.4 | 25.7 | 28.8 | 26.1 | 31.9 | 28.4 | ||
| Frequent (9-14) | 25.7 | 23.6 | 21.9 | 26.0 | 23.4 | 28.1 | ||
| High (15-32) | 11.8 | 15.2 | 13.5 | 20.7 | 13.1 | 22.3 | ||
| Mental health | ||||||||
| Unhappy | 7.7 | 6.9 | 14.1 | 16.3 | 7.6 | 13.8 | ||
| Lonely | 9.4 | 12.8 | 12.2 | 14.7 | 12.5 | 21.2 | ||
| Social contact | ||||||||
| Ostracised | 5.6 | 8.4 | 5.6 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 2.4 | ||
| ⩽2 evenings with friends | 68.0 | 79.0 | 69.0 | 75.3 | 75.0 | 76.7 | ||
| ⩽3 days with friends after school | 57.2 | 67.9 | 59.2 | 72.5 | 63.3 | 74.7 | ||
| Risk behaviour | ||||||||
| Current smoking (weekly or more often) | 3.7 | 2.4 | 11.9 | 11.6 | 15.9 | 17.1 | ||
| Reactions to school | ||||||||
| Dislike school | 33.8 | 18.1 | 43.8 | 31.5 | 32.4 | 29.9 | ||
| School is not nice place to be | 40.2 | 24.0 | 62.3 | 60.8 | 63.0 | 56.4 | ||
| Frequent absence without permission | 3.0 | 0.7 | 5.8 | 2.4 | 5.3 | 2.5 | ||
*
0-4: up to 3 symptoms less than once a month or never; 5-8: 4 or more symptoms about every month or up to 3 per week; 9-14: 4 or more symptoms once per week or up to 3 per week; 15-32: 4 or more symptoms more than once a week or about every day.