The relationship between psychological distress and bullying victimisation among school-going adolescents in Ghana: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: One of the pervasive problems in schools that has adverse implication on the wellbeing of students, is bullying victimisation. However, within sub-Saharan Africa, only few studies have examined how psychological distress influences bullying victimisation. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between bullying victimization and psychological distress among school going adolescents in Ghana. RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-eight (198) male and female students completed a series of self-report questionnaires measuring psychological distress (anxiety, stress and depression) and bullying victimisation in a cross-sectional survey. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and standard multiple regression were used to analyse the data. Findings revealed that bullying victimisation was positively associated with all the domains of psychological distress: depression (r = 0.35, p < 0.001), anxiety (r = 0.30, p < 0.001) and stress (r = 0.35, p < 0.001). Further analysis found depression to be the only significant predictor of bullying victimisation (β = 0.20; t = 2.01; p < 0.05). Taking into consideration that bullying victimization is a major problem among adolescents in schools, anti-bullying programmes should be implemented as this may promote improved wellbeing of school-going adolescents in Ghana.