The association between bullying-related behaviours and subjective health complaints in late adolescence: cross-sectional study in Greece

Abstract

Background: Bullying is quite prevalent in the school setting and has been associated with several subjective health complaints such as headache, backache, abdominal pain, dizziness, fatigue and sleep problems. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between bullying and subjective health complaints in a sample of Greek adolescents taking into account the presence of psychiatric morbidity.

Methods: A stratified random sample of 2427 adolescents aged 16-18 years old and attending senior high schools were randomly selected for a computerized interview. Subjective health complaints were assessed using a symptom checklist used in the context of a previous World Health Organization study and relevant sections of the revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R). The latter was also used for the assessment of psychiatric morbidity. Bullying was assessed with the revised Olweus bully/victim questionnaire. A series of logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between bullying and subjective health complaints.

Results: Victims of bullying were more likely to report backache (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.01-3.67), dizziness (OR = 2.83, 95% CI: 1.11-7.22) and fatigue (OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.19-0.86), independently of the presence of psychiatric morbidity. In addition bullying perpetrators were more likely to report backache (OR = 3.49, 95% CI: 1.49-8.18). It is worth noting that sleep problems and abdominal pain were also associated with being bullied and fatigue with bullying perpetration but these associations were all attenuated after adjustment for psychiatric morbidity.

Conclusions: Strong associations between bullying in schools and subjective health complaints among a sample of Greek students aged 16-18 years have been observed. The exact nature of these associations should be investigated in future longitudinal studies.