Association Between School Climate and Occurrence of Bullying Among Adolescents: SP-PROSO 2017

Abstract

The study aimed to analyze the association between school climate and victimization or perpetration by bullying in adolescents from public and private schools in the city of São Paulo. A cross-sectional study was performed using data from the São Paulo Project for the Social Development of Children and Adolescents, with a representative sample of Brazilian adolescents in the 9th grade of elementary school II (n = 1,939 students, 119 schools), in 2017. The school climate was assessed using 37 questions from which, using exploratory factor analysis, three factors were identified representing different dimensions that make up the school climate, subsequently divided into tertiles. We evaluated the prevalence of bullying. The association between the tertiles of each construct of school climate and types of bullying was analyzed by multiple logistic regression adjusted by covariates, with a 95% confidence interval and the linear p-trend value. The three climate constructs identified were named “positive climate,” “disorder climate” and “low legitimacy climate.” We found that the more positive the school climate in the perception of students, the lower the likelihood of perpetration (OR_{2nd tertile} = 0.46, 95% CI: [0.31, 0.70]; OR_{3rd tercile} = 0.30; [0.25, 0.59], p-trend < .01) and victimization by at least one type of bullying (OR_{2nd tertile} = 0.58, [0.41, 0.81]; OR_{3rd tertile} = 0.52, [0.38, 0.70], p-trend < .01). On the other hand, a school climate of disorder and low legitimacy were associated with a higher probability of bullying. Our results can support intervention strategies to improve the school climate to reduce school bullying and its negative consequences for adolescent health.