Bullying victimization and its associated factors among adolescents in Illu Abba Bor Zone, Southwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Bullying victimization is a repetitive exposure to negative actions from one or more students over time. Bullying victim adolescents have higher levels of mental health problems, worse mental health outcomes, and lowered social status than non-victim adolescents. Literature on bullying among adolescents in Ethiopia is limited. This study aimed to assess the magnitude of bullying victimization and its associated factors among adolescents. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 847 adolescents in Mettu town. A Stratified sampling technique was used to select eligible Study participants from September, 1 to 30, 2020. Linear regression analysis model was used; first bivariate analysis was performed to see the association of each independent variable with bullying victimization. Variables with (P < 0.25) in bivariate analysis were entered into a multivariate linear regression model to identify the association of each independent variable with bullying victimization. The statistical significance was considered at P value < 0.05. RESULTS: From the total of 847 adolescents 819 were voluntarily involved in the study giving the response rate of 96.7%. The prevalence of bullying victimization in this study was 30.4%. Being male (β = 1.135, p = 0.001), physical abuse (β = 0.622, p ≤ 0.001), emotional abuse (β = 0.512, p ≤ 0.001), current substance use (β = 1.153, p = 0.005), psychological distress (β = 0.406, p ≤ 0.001) and having medical illness (β = 3.500, p ≤ 0.001) were significantly associated with bullying victimization. CONCLUSIONS: Bullying victimization is quite common among adolescents and has both short- and long-term consequences. Bullying prevention treatments should focus on male adolescents and those who report being bullied. Anti-bullying policies in schools are critical for educating teachers, parents, and students about bullying.