What do we know about bullying : a review of reviews from 2014-2019

الملخص EN

Objective: To update knowledge on bullying in school children and adolescents Method: All reviews from 2014 – 2019 related to bullying were retrieved using PubMed and Science Direct.

A total of 357 hits were reduced to 58 reviews in English.

Results: Bullying is currently defined as an intentional and repetitive harmful action or set of actions by another or others, with a power imbalance between the bully and the victim.

Cyberbullying has entered the fray in addition to the already present physical and verbal bullying as well as social exclusion.

The prevalence of bullying varied for study to study, and this could be at least partly due to definitions and instruments used.

Socio-metric popularity, school climate, family dynamics and ethnic as well as gender minorities are important factors of involvement in bullying.

A strong association was repeatedly found to exist between mental health and bullying.

Externalizing disorders were more prominent in bullies and internalizing disorders were more prominent in victims.

Bully victims showed overlap between the two categories.

Conclusion: It is very important to use a clear definition of bullying.

Recognizing it early in the school setting is important when improving the mental health of all involved: ubllies, victims and bully-victims