Association of school bullying with the comorbidity of anxiety and depressive symptoms among middle school students in Anhui Province
10.16835/j.cnki.1000-9817.2024250
- VernacularTitle:安徽省中学生校园欺凌与焦虑抑郁症状共患的关联性
- Author:
CHEN Guoping, WANG Zhiqiang, SUN Ying, ZHANG Yukun, WU Jing, YANG Yang, WANG Yuting, YAO Yuan, SONG Weiwei, LI Weidong
1
Author Information
1. Department of Food Nutrition and School Hygiene, Anhui Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hefei (230601) , Anhui Province, China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Violence;
Anxiety;
Depression;
Comorbidity;
Mental health;
Regression analysis;
Students
- From:
Chinese Journal of School Health
2024;45(8):1115-1119
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To understand the prevalence of school bullying and the comorbidity of anxiety and depressive symptoms among middle school students and their association, so as to provide a basis for developing related intervention strategies.
Methods:From September to December 2023, a multistage random cluster sampling was employed to select 107 851 middle school students across 104 counties in Anhui Province. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Scale were used to assess depressive and anxiety symptoms. Logistic regression analysis was utilized to examine the correlations between experiences of school bullying and the comorbidity of anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Results:The findings revealed that 2.80% of middle school students had experienced school bullying in the past 30 days. Additionally, 27.03% exhibited potential symptoms of depression, 8.94% showed signs of anxiety symptom, and the comorbidity rate of anxiety and depressive symptoms was 8.04%. Logistic regression analysis showed that statistically significant correlations were identified between experiences of school bullying and increased risks of depressive symptoms (OR=6.42, 95%CI=5.93-6.94, P<0.01), anxiety symptoms (OR=5.94, 95%CI=5.47-6.44, P<0.01), and their comorbidity (OR=6.38, 95%CI=5.88-6.93, P<0.01). Compared with those who did not suffer from school bullying, junior high school students, ordinary senior high school students, vocational senior high school students, boys and girls who suffered from school bullying all had increased risks of comorbidity of anxiety and depressive symptoms (OR=7.25, 5.55, 4.80, 6.42, 6.27, P＜0.01).
Conclusions:The study underscores the significant impact of school bullying on increasing the risk of comorbidity of anxiety and depressive symptoms among middle school students. It is important to pay attention to the psychological health of bullied students and implement timely psychological intervention measures.
