Peer victimization as reported by children, teachers, and parents in relation to children's health symptoms

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Magne Mæhle¹  Lars J Vatten²  Audhild Løhre³  Bård Paulsen⁴  Stian Lydersen⁵ 

[1] Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, University of Bergen, Norway;Sogn og Fjordane University College, Sogndal, Norway;Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway;Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway;The Central Norway Regional Health Authority, Stjørdal, Norway;Sintef Health Center Research, Trondheim, Norway;Unit for Applied Clinical Research, Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway;

关键词: Weak Association;    Somatic Symptom;    Somatic Complaint;    School Nurse;    Stomach Ache;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-278

 received in 2010-10-10, accepted in 2011-05-06,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundVictims of bullying in school may experience health problems later in life. We have assessed the prevalence of children's health symptoms according to whether peer victimization was reported by the children, by their teachers, or by their parents.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study of 419 children in grades 1-10 the frequency of peer victimization was reported by children, teachers and parents. Emotional and somatic symptoms (sadness, anxiety, stomach ache, and headache) were reported by the children.Frequencies of victimization reported by different informants were compared by the marginal homogeneity test for paired ordinal data, concordance between informants by cross-tables and Spearman's rho, and associations of victimization with health symptoms were estimated by logistic regression.ResultsThe concordance of peer victimization reported by children, teachers, and parents varied from complete agreement to complete discordance also for the highest frequency (weekly/daily) of victimization. Children's self-reported frequency of victimization was strongly and positively associated with their reports of emotional and somatic symptoms. Frequency of victimization reported by teachers or parents showed similar but weaker associations with the children's health symptoms.ConclusionThe agreement between children and significant adults in reporting peer victimization was low to moderate, and the associations of reported victimization with the children's self-reported health symptoms varied substantially between informants. It may be useful to assess prospectively the effects of employing different sources of information related to peer victimization.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Løhre et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011