Abstract
Background: Bullying in school-age children is a public health concern that less discusses in Middle East countries like Iran. The goal of this study was to determine and compare whether exposure to various forms of bullying behaviors contributes to disparities in life satisfaction and self-rated health among Iranian pupils.
Study design: A cross-sectional study.
Methods: Data were obtained from a cross-sectional study on 834, 8th and 9th-grade students conducted in northern Iran in 2014. Bullying was measured by the Iranian-version of the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire. Life satisfaction and self-rated health were assessed by a single item of the Global School Health Survey (GSHS) in Persian. Descriptive statistics and two-level logistic regression analysis were used for data analysis.
Results: Positive self-rated health and life satisfaction were significantly higher in boys than girls (P<0.002). Self-related health and life satisfaction were similar in the 8th and 9th-grade students. After controlling for gender and grade, students involved in only-victim of verbal bullying (OR=0.48, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.67), and bully-victim of relational bullying (OR=0.29, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.67) reported lower self-rated health compared to non-involved students.
Conclusion: Life satisfaction and self-rated health were differently related to types of bullying behaviors. Our findings highlighted the necessity to detect victims and bully-victims and develop prevention programs to stop bullying and its negative consequences in Iranian schools.