Background: Bullying at schools is a known but neglected phenomenon. The study of its prevalence and correlates are essential to curb this aberrant behavior for building a healthy society.
Aim and objective: This cross-sectional evaluation was carried out to study the pattern through which bully activities manifests in students from 6th to 10th standards and find its positive and negative correlates.
Methods: candidates’ selection was done through simple random and proportionate sampling methods to ensure equal presentation across the board i.e., urban vs rural, types of schools, gender and class(standard).
Results: 480 participants were studied both from rural and urban high schools (6th – 10th standard) in equal proportion. An equal representation (33.3%) of participants were ensured from the three groups of schools studied i.e., Girls, Co-education, and Boys, across gender (50%) and class(standard) 20% from each. The age ranged from 10 years to 18 years with the mean age at 13.9 years and a standard deviation of 1.66. From the total studied population 52% were bystanders, and 48% were engaged in some form of bully activities (20% victim, 16% bully victim, and 13% bully). While both bully and victim scores had strong interconnect (strong positive correlation r = 0.259**, p - 0.000) their relation with prosocial and self-esteem scores were negative (p – 0.001). GHQ (General Health Questionnaire) score was not related to any of the above sub-scales.
Conclusion: Bully related behavior was predominant in the studied population. From the results, it appears that measures directed at improving prosocial behaviors and self-esteem of pupils can act as effective counters to the reported empathetic activities.