PART 2: CHILDREN'S RELATIONSHIPS

Relationship with Peers

Bullying

Understanding and preventing bullying during childhood has important implications for the immediate health of children, as well as long-term societal health. 22

Measure

The percentage of children aged 9-17 who report to have been bullied at school.

Key findings

  • In 2006, 24.5% of children aged 9-17 reported having been bullied in school at least once in the past couple of months (see Table 35).

Differences by gender, age and social class

  • The percentage of children who reported to have been bullied in school at least once in the past couple of months is relatively stable across social classes (see Table 35).
  • The percentage of children aged 9-17 who reported to have been bullied in school at least once in the past couple of months is higher among boys and young children:
    • 25.6% of boys, compared to 23.4% of girls;
    • 38.3% of children aged 9 and 29.3% of children aged 10-11, compared to 26.2% of those aged 12-14 and 20.8% of those aged 15-17.

Table 35: Percentage of children who report to have been bullied in school (in the past couple of months), by gender, age and social class (2002 and 2006)

    2002     2006  
  Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
Total 26.4 21.0 23.3 25.6 23.4 24.5
Age            
9 years - - - 38.4 38.1 38.3
10-11 years 26.8 29.5 28.3 27.9 30.2 29.3
12-14 years 29.9 22.6 25.8 28.2 23.9 26.2
15-17 years 21.7 15.8 18.2 22.1 19.5 20.8
Social class            
SC 1-2 27.6 19.9 23.0 26.5 23.5 25.0
SC 3-4 24.8 21.6 22.9 24.9 22.9 23.9
SC 5-6 26.6 20.3 23.1 26.0 23.3 24.6

Source: HBSC Survey

Differences by geographic area

  • Children in the South-East and Mid-East regions are more likely (26.9%) to report being bullied in school at least once in the past couple of months, while children in the Midlands region are least likely (22.9%) to report being bullied (see Table 36).

Table 36: Percentage of children who report to have been bullied in school (in the past couple of months), by NUTS Region (2006

  2006
Border 23.8
Midlands 22.9
West 24.0
Dublin 23.7
Mid-East 26.9
Mid-West 23.2
South-East 26.9
South-West 23.2
Overall 24.5

Source: HBSC Survey

International comparisons

  • From the 2006 HBSC Survey, using the ages of 11, 13 and 15 only to draw international comparisons, 25.9% of Irish children reported that they had been bullied at school (see Figure 10). This is below the HBSC average of 32.0%.
  • Among all 39 countries and regions that used this HBSC item, the lowest percentage for this indicator was found among children from Spain (13.6%) and the highest among children from Lithuania (56.3%). Overall, Irish children ranked 26th.
  • Among the 35 countries and regions that used this HBSC item in 2002, Irish children ranked 27th (25.9%).

Figure 10: Percentage of children who report to have been bullied in school (in the past couple of months), by country (2006)

figure 7

Source: HBSC Survey

 

Technical notes
All data presented are drawn from self-report, self-completion questionnaires completed by children in schools. Thus, they are subject to potential biases in relation to self-presentation and memory. These measures may suffer from social desirability bias.

Percentage differences are presented for descriptive purposes only and may not reflect a statistically significant finding.

Social class (SC) is classified into one of the following groups (introduced in 1996 by the CSO), defined on the basis of occupation:

SC I: Professional
SC 2: Managerial
SC 3: Non-manual
SC 4: Skilled manual
SC 5: Semi-skilled
SC 6: Unskilled

NUTS is an acronym for the EU Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. This classification was legally established by EU Regulation No. 1059/2003 on 29 May 2003. In Ireland, NUTS is classified hierarchically as Level 1 - Ireland; Level 2 - Regions; and Level 3 - Regional Authorities. The 8 Regional Authorities in Ireland (NUTS 3 regions) were established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (see Appendix 2).

Next

17 O'Moore, A.M. (2000) 'Critical issues for teacher training to counter bullying and victimisation in Ireland', Aggressive Behaviour, Vol. 26, pp. 99-111.