Bullying Behaviors among Adolescents in relation to their Self Esteem

Background: Adolescence, which extends from the ages of 10 to 19, is a time transition from childhood into maturity. Individuals begin to form their identity, social relationships, and self-concept. During this period, self-esteem has a sensitive role in shaping adolescent's behaviors and their social interactions. Bullying is pervasive behavior among adolescents that leads to serious emotional, social, and psychological impacts, and  it may be displayed in different forms, including relational, verbal, physical, or cyber-bullying.

Objectives: Assess the bullying behaviors among adolescents students in Babylon ,Identify the bullies adolescents self-esteem level, and to Find out the associations between adolescent’s bullying behaviors with their self- esteem level .

Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive design for a period from October 19th 2024 to January 2025. 265 pupils from eight intermediate schools in the Al-Hilla Directorate were chosen using a simple random stratified sample procedure. Data were collected through using an instrument through interviews and analyzed using SPSS version 22, applying both descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: the results showed the assessment levels  of bullying behaviors among 265 adolescents were at a moderate level (37.4%) with (M.S = 2.05 ± 0.116).  While, the self-esteem level among participants was neutral self-esteem (61.5%),with mean score 2.09 ± 0.276, also there are highly significant negative correlation was found between bullying behavior and self-esteem (p = 0.002, Spearman’s rho = -0.192).

Conclusions: General assessment of the bullying behaviors among adolescents were moderate level.  The adolescents self-esteem was at neutral level, also demonstrated a highly significant negative correlation between bullying behavior and self-esteem among adolescents Accordingly, the study recommended combines a comprehensive approach among school policies, family, peers involvement  and community collaboration is necessary to reduce bullying behaviors and improve self-esteem among adolescents.