Relationship between Bullying and Anxiety among Young children

Abdulaziz, Dina ,; Ghamis, Gehan Maher; Elsheshtawy,, Omayma Reda ,

doi:10.21608/asalexu.2024.392354

Relationship between Bullying and Anxiety among Young children

Document Type : Research articles

Authors

¹ Nursing Specialist Ministry of Health, Elbuheira

² Professor of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University

³ Assistant Professor Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University

10.21608/asalexu.2024.392354

Abstract

Background: Bullying affects children who are bullied in many parts of their lives either physically, psychologically, educationally, or academic achievement. Nurses have a crucial role in bullying management and its effect on children. Nurses should teach parents how to set adequate limits for a child's behavior at home. Objective: Find out the relationship between bullying and the level of anxiety among children. Settings: The study was conducted at the Outpatient Department of Kafer El Dawar Central Hospital. Subjects: A purposive sampling of 200 children and their mothers who attended the previously mentioned setting. Tools: Three tools were used. Tool I: Characteristics of Children and their Mothers and Medical History Assessment Sheet. Tool II: Gatehouse Bullying Scale (GBS). Tool Three: Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) Results: The study revealed that more than two-thirds of bullied children (69.5 %) had moderate anxiety levels and only 30.0% of them had severe anxiety levels. Moreover, more than half of the mothers of bullied children (59 %) reported that their children sometimes felt tense or uptight. Conclusion: It can be concluded that more than two-thirds of children who are frequently bullied have moderate anxiety. In addition, about half of bullied children experienced anxiety through tense or uptight, nervous, and feeling strange. Moreover, there were no statistically significant differences between the degree of bullying and the level of anxiety among bullied children. Recommendations: The media should focus on the physical, psychological, and social impact of bullying on children and their families to raise awareness about bullying in society . Moreover, Bullying-related health education sessions for parents and their children should be held in hospitals, pediatric outpatient clinics, and schools.

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