Bullying Across Late Childhood and Early Adolescence: A Prospective Cohort of Students Assessed Annually From Grades 3 to 8

OBJECTIVE: Bullying is a well-established risk factor for common adolescent mental disorders. Yet there has been little published on how patterns of bullying change across late childhood and early adolescence. We estimated the prevalence and patterns of being a victim of bullying across this period including changes with the transition from primary to secondary school. METHODS: A stratified random sample of 1239 Grade 3 students was recruited from 43 primary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Bullying frequency and form were assessed annually between Grades 3 and 8, and categorized into 5 groups: physical, verbal, spreading rumors, social exclusion, and cyber, together with multiform bullying. RESULTS: Rates of bullying were high across these Grades with 86% of students reporting bullying at least once in the past 4 weeks at any wave, 66% reporting frequent bullying and 37% reporting frequent multiform bullying. The commonest form of bullying was teasing, with cyberbullying the least common. For boys, there were marked falls in bullying with increasing age whereas for girls, bullying persisted at high levels into secondary school, with relational bullying the dominant pattern and cyberbullying increasing sharply in the early teens. Generally, the transition to secondary education brought lower risks for all forms of bullying. CONCLUSIONS: We found high rates of bullying across late childhood and early adolescence in both sexes, but more persistent bullying in girls. Declines across primary school and with the transition to secondary school suggest the potential for intervention across these grades to further reduce the prevalence of bullying.

Automated summary

The study found high rates of bullying in both sexes during late childhood and early adolescence, with more persistent bullying observed in girls. Declines in bullying rates with the transition to secondary school and increasing age suggest the potential for interventions to further reduce the prevalence of bullying.