Bullying among Brazilian adolescents: evidence from the National Survey of School Health, Brazil, 2015 and 2019

OBJECTIVE: to estimate the prevalence rate of indicators related to bullying among Brazilian students aged 13 to 17 years and compare its occurrence between 2015 and 2019. METHOD: this is a descriptive cross-sectional study, with data from the National Survey of School Health, carried out in all Brazilian states. The prevalence rate and confidence intervals (95%CI) of the indicators were estimated in 2019. Student’s t test was used (p ≤ 0.01) to test the differences between editions. RESULTS: the prevalence rate of bullying decreased from 20.4% (95%CI: 19.2 - 21.5) in 2015 to 12.0% (95%CI: 11.6 - 12.5) in 2019. The reasons cited for being bullied were similar in both editions: bodily appearance, facial appearance, and color/race. Prevalence rates were similar between states. The state of Tocantins presented the highest number of bully-victims; states of Mato Grosso and Amapá had the highest number of adolescents being involved in cyberbullying situations, and the state of Rio de Janeiro presented the highest number of bullies. CONCLUSION: there was a reduction by half in bullying and in the report on not being treated well among Brazilian adolescents; however, the prevalence rate of being bullied and cyberbullying are high in the country. Therefore, attention should be paid to policies to reduce and confront this issue on the national scene.