One of the most common forms of physical and emotional abuse in children and teenager is harassment or bullying. Bullying among teenagers is a global problem and widely known to have a negative impact on victims, and it refers to oppression or aggressive behavior with the intention to hurt or abuse others in repetitive actions and involve an imbalance of power. The oppression that occurs in the school environment requires greater attention because school is a place for a teenager to carry out formal learning processes; it affects the quality of life for future generations.
Indonesia is one of the countries that experiencing a high rate of bullying, such as bullying behaviour among teenager, although the exact data is still unknown. As many as 40% of teenagers have been intimidated at school, and 32% reported that they had been victims of physical violence. The results of the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs survey in 2013 showed that one in two young men (47.45%) and one in three young women (35.05%) were reported to be intimidated. Further data from 2015 Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) showed that 24.1% of young men and 17.4% of young women had been intimidated.
Several studies have highlighted the following factors related to bullying: demographic factors, social factors, lifestyle factors, and living and working conditions. Previous research in Indonesia reported that the form of bullying most experienced by adolescents was verbal intimidation. Apart from the increasing prevalence of teenagers who are intimidated in Indonesia, little is known about what factors affect individuals who are victims of bullying using national data. Understanding individual factors can help recognize real situations faced by bullied teens. Therefore, we conducted a study to investigate the factors associated with victims of bullying among adolescents in Indonesia based on secondary data from GSHS 2015.
This study uses a correlational design with a cross-sectional approach. Data obtained from the 2015 Indonesian Health Survey (GSHS) based on the Indonesian Global School. A total of 9969 adolescents in schools were selected with proportional probabilities by the method of systematic measurement and sampling. The variables analyzed in this study were age, sex, smoking behavior, alcohol consumption, close friends, and feelings of loneliness. The research instrument used the GSHS 2015 questionnaire. Chi-square analysis (χ2) and multiple logistic regression tests were performed to determine the significance of each variable. Bullying in this study covers various forms of verbal, social, and physical intimidation. This includes bad and unpleasant actions by a student or group of students to other students who are helpless, such as insulting, teasing too much in a bad way, hitting, or leaving someone intentionally.
The results of this research indicate a high prevalence of victims of bullying (19.9%) reported among Indonesian adolescents in schools. Age, sex, alcohol, smoking, and loneliness showed a positive relationship with bullying. This study provides preliminary data to inform policymakers about the prevalence and factors that correlate with bullying. Raising public awareness about bullying and prevention actions among students, other teenagers, parents or families, and society must be promoted in general. Focusing on building an anti-bullying environment in schools might be useful to reduce the prevalence of bullying. Appropriate interventions need to be carried out by various stakeholders to ensure anti-bullying programs are implemented in all schools.
Author: Ferry Efendi, S.Kep., Ns., M.Sc., Ph.D.
Detail information from this research can be seen in:
https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ijamh.ahead-of-print/ijamh-2019-0064/ijamh-2019-0064.xml Ah Yusuf, Aziz Nashiruddin Habibie, Ferry Efendi, Iqlima Dwi Kurnia, Anna Kurniati. 2019 ‘Prevalence and correlates of being bullied among adolescents in Indonesia: results from the 2015 Global School-based Student Health Survey’, International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health. De Gruyter.
doi: 10.1515/ijamh-2019-0064
