Bullying among school adolescents in Erbil city of Iraq

Background and objective: Bullying (being a bully or a victim of bullying) is a common problem for children all around the world. The prevalence of bullying varies depending on the age, gender, and race of the individuals involved. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of each form of bullying among school adolescents of both genders and to measure the association of different forms of bullying with the sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study done in public schools across Erbil city of Kurdistan region of Iraq for the educational year 2016-2017. The sample was collected by multistage cluster sampling technique with a total number of 35 schools distributed through the six municipalities of Erbil. Data collection was done through a self-reported close-ended questionnaire. Results: A total of 1070 school adolescents participated in this study. The mean age was 15.56 ±1.41 years, and males were 51.8% of the sample making male to female ratio 1:0.9. Sixty percent of the students reported being involved in bullying at least once through the last semester of the school year, 3.0% were bullies, 26.2% were both bullies and being bullied, and 31.8% were victims of bullying. Bullying, victimization, and bully-victims were significantly higher among boys compared to girls for all forms of bullying. Significantly higher bullying prevalence was noticed among Arabs compared to Kurds and Turkmen. Conclusion: Bullying behavior seems to be a widespread problem in schools of Erbil city.