چرا نوجوانان زورگویی می کنند؟ تجربه در مدارس مالزی

Abstract Introduction To determine sociodemographic and psychological factors associated with bullying behavior among young adolescents in Malaysia. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of four hundred ten 12-year-old adolescents from seven randomly sampled schools in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sociodemographic features of the adolescents and their parents, bullying behavior (Malaysian Bullying Questionnaire), ADHD symptoms (Conners Rating Scales), and internalizing and externalizing behavior (Child Behaviour Checklist) were obtained from adolescents, parents and teachers, respectively.

1. Introduction Bullying refers to a repeated act of aggression toward a weaker victim [1]. It is a common phenomenon among children and adolescents worldwide [2] that needs to be curbed. Why do adolescents bully? Bullying has been attributed to low self-control [3] and poor impulsivity [4] in adolescents. Young adolescents with bullying behavior were usually psychologically disturbed [5]. Psychiatric disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [6] and [7] and its comorbid conditions such as conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) were common among young adolescents with bullying behavior [7]. Common correlates of ADHD and bullying such as low self-control [3] and hyperactivity [8] explain the relationship between the two. A Korean study found bullies to commonly have depressive symptoms and low self-esteem [9]. Bullying probably provides for their need to control and also boost their self-esteem. Family factors such as domestic violence and child abuse [10] have also been implicated in the etiology of bullying behavior. Adolescents may model the aggression they have been exposed to at home and exercise that to the vulnerable peers in school. A prospective study found maternal depression and low maternal warmth to be associated with bullying behavior but confounded by young adolescents' behavioral problems [10]. Most of the studies on bullying behavior came from the Western population, hence the difficulty to generalize findings to the non-Western counterparts. Bullying is common [11], [12] and [13] in Malaysian schools and it has received great attention due to the high prevalence. A study on risk-taking behavior among young adolescents aged 13 years, in rural development schemes found the prevalence of bullying behavior at 14.4% [14]. A similar study among 280 young adolescents of the same age group but in an urban area in the south of Malaysia, reported a prevalence of 21.1% [15]. Yaakob et al [12] did a bigger study involving 2528 school children aged 10–12 years recruited from 29 schools in Perak and found that 53.2% of the respondents admitted their involvement in bullying behavior. Despite the figure showing more than half of the students involved in bully, many cases possibly remain unreported and dismissed as part of growing pains. However, bully is known to lead to multiple negative psychosocial complications such as depression, anxiety and aggression [16], particularly in urban society, where bullying is more common [17]. This is possibly due to social isolation being part of a city living. There is however, a paucity of data looking at the factors contributing to bullying behavior, in particular focusing at the associated psychiatric morbidity. This study therefore was aimed to determine the factors associated with bullying behavior among young adolescents attending schools in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Identifying these factors would help to strategize the preventive and interventive measures to curb bullying behavior.

5. Conclusion In conclusion, adolescents with involvement in bullying behavior demand serious attention. Identifying factors linking to bullying behavior, in particular factors distinctive to the local population, facilitates in strategizing effective interventions for school bullying among adolescents in Malaysian schools.