[Is bullying associated with health risk and quality of life behaviors in adolescents?]

Abstract

This study assessed the practice of bullying, health risk behavior and quality of life in adolescent boys and girls from the city of Maringá, Paraná. A representative sample of 1,020 adolescents participated in the study to assess the association between bullying, health-risk behavior, and quality of life factors through self-reported questionnaires. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were obtained using both crude and adjusted binary and ordinal logistic regression, with a significance level of p<0.05. Male bullying perpetrators were 2.2 (95%CI=1.4-3.4) and 2.0 (95%CI=1.2-3.2) times more likely to consume alcohol and engage in physical activity compared to non-bullying males. Female bullying perpetrators were 2.1 (95%CI=1.3-3.5), 3.6 (95%CI=1.3-10.1), 1.8 (95%CI=1.1-2.9), and 2.7 (95%CI=1.1-6.3) times more likely to smoke, use illicit drugs, be addicted to smartphones, and have poorer sleep quality. These girls also had a 60% higher chance of having a worse perception of quality of life, respectively, compared to non-bullying females. The conclusion drawn is that bullying may be associated with health risk behaviors for both boys and girls.