A cross-sectional study of victimisation of bullying among schoolchildren in Sweden: background factors and self-reported health complaints.

Aim: To examine background factors for bullying and associations between bullying victimisation and health problems.

Methods: A cross-sectional study on all pupils in grades 7 and 9 in a Swedish county was conducted in 2011 (n=5248). Data have been analysed with bi- and multivariate models.

Results: 14% of the children reported that they had been bullied during the past 2 months. Background factors for bullying were: gender (girls more often); age (younger students more often); disability/disease; high body mass index, and having parents born abroad. There were strong associations between being bullied and poor health and self-harm. Associations with poor general health for boys and girls and mental health problems for girls showed stronger associations with higher frequency of bullying than with lower. For boys, physical bullying had stronger correlations with poor general health than written-verbal bullying.

Conclusions: Bullying is a serious public health problem among young people and healthcare professionals have an important task in identifying exposed children. Children who are "different" are more exposed to bullying, which implies that school personnel, parents, and other adults in these children's social networks can play an important role in paying attention to and preventing the risk of bullying.