Prevalence and characteristics of school age bullying victims. Objective: To describe the prevalence of bullying victims, the characteristics of those victims and their associated symptoms in the domains of emotion, behavior, hyperactivity and peer relationships.
Method: This was a cross-sectional study nested in a cohort that assesses disorders of reading, writing and arithmetic in 1, students enrolled in the first to eighth grades of two public schools in a lower-middle-class neighborhood of the city of Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
Results: The prevalence of bullying was The most prevalent type of intimidation was verbal, followed by physical, emotional, racial and sexual. After adjustment for confounding factors, bullying was still associated with male sex PR 1. Among the victims of bullying, Conclusion: This study has identified the behavioral characteristics of bullying victims which may prove useful for local policies designed to protect the targets of bullying.
J Pediatr Rio J. Bullying is observed in all cultures 1 and it is a practice that causes psychological suffering, low self-esteem and isolation and which is detrimental to learning and to academic performance. There are studies describing successful interventions that are founded on multidisciplinary activities that involve several levels of prevention. These negative actions may take the form of physical contact, verbal abuse or offensive expressions or gestures.
Spreading rumors and excluding victims from a group are also common forms of violence. Bullying implies a power imbalance between the people making the threats and the victims, which characterizes an asymmetrical power relationship. Victims often suffer from feelings of insecurity that prevent them from seeking help. They make few friends, are passive and do not react to acts of aggression.
