Violence and bullying among high school students and recommendations for school nurses

Abstract

<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;">Bullying has been associated with violence in high schools. The Social Ecological Model was used to examine relationships between student characteristics, violence, and bullying in a secondary analysis of Youth Risk Behavior Survey data sets from 2011 to 2017.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Violence was measured by reports of feeling unsafe, threatened, fighting, carrying weapons, and carrying a gun. Bullying was defined as an aggressive peer behavior comprised of an imbalance of power, repetition, and intent to harm the victim. Males were more likely to report being threatened while females were more likely to report feeling unsafe at school. Ninth grade students were more likely to engage in violence behaviors and experience bullying. Older students who experienced bullying were more likely to carry a gun. We found a positive association between violence behaviors and experiencing bullying in high school. School Nurses should implement interventions to prevent bullying and violence behaviors amongst high school students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span></span></span></p>