Bullying victimization and life satisfaction among high school students

Abstract

Bullying reflects repetitive and intentional acts of aggression that aim at harming a peer who is weaker or in a more vulnerable social position than the bullying perpetrator. Experiences related to bullying victimization are associated with short- and long-term negative outcomes for students, and there is some evidence that bullying victimization may be associated with low life satisfaction in adolescents. To investigate the relationship between bullying victimization and life satisfaction among adolescents, 243 students from two high schools in Belgrade (76.5% female) aged 14–19 years (M = 16.5; SD = 1.1) completed paper questionnaires. Bullying victimization was assessed using the Delaware Bullying Victimization Scale, a sixpoint Likert scale with a total 16 items (α = .92) grouped into four subscales: Verbal, Physical, Social/Relational and Cyberbullying. The total score is the sum of the three subscales - Verbal, Physical and Social/Relational (it is recommended that the score for Cyberbullying is not included in the total score), while separate scores were calculated for each subscale. Adolescents’ life satisfaction was assessed using the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, a five-point Likert scale with 6 items (α = .77). The results indicate a weak negative correlation between the experience of bullying victimization and life satisfaction, meaning that high school students who are exposed to less bullying tend to have higher life satisfaction (r (241) = -.15, p < .05). An examination of the forms of bullying shows that exposure to social/relational (r (241) = -.18, p < .01) and physical bullying (r (241) = -.15, p < .05) is negatively associated with life satisfaction, while no statistically significant correlation was found between verbal (r (241) = -.08, p = .17) or cyberbullying (r (241) = -.08, p = .21) and students’ life satisfaction. The obtained results emphasize the need for further research to clarify the relationship between bullying victimization and adolescents’ life satisfaction by including potential moderating or mediating variables. Additionally, they highlight the importance of implementing appropriate interventions for students who are, or are at risk of being, victimized to minimize negative effects such as life dissatisfaction