School bullying, family conflicts and adverse health outcomes

The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of school bullying in the one of Kaunas gymnasium and to assess the associations between school bullying, family conflicts and adverse health outcomes. We used the Lithuanian translation of the Norwegian bully/victim questionnaire (D.Olweus) in the interview of 394 5–9 grade students (response rate 87.8 %). Health outcomes evaluated were headache, stomach ache, back pain, anxiety, etc. The results indicated that 72 (18.3%) of students were victims of severe school bullying (weekly and more often over the last six months), 44.4% of students experienced occasional bullying. Conflicts in the family experienced 9.4% of the investigated students and nearly half of them felt irritability and bad temper (44.2%), nervousness (40.9%), one third – anxiety (36.0%) every week and more often. The significant associations between severe bullying, conflicts in the family and adverse health outcomes were found. The relationship between school bullying and adverse health outcomes was observed. Conclusion. Severe school bullying, family conflicts were significantly associated with adverse health outcomes among 5–9 grades students