Abstract

COUTO, Ricardo Neves et al. Is depression in adolescence related to bullying and demographic variables?. Gerais, Rev. Interinst. Psicol. [online]. 2023, vol.16, n.3, e20268.  Epub Jan 20, 2025. ISSN 1983-8220.  https://doi.org/10.36298/gerais202316e20268.

School is a vulnerable space to the incidence of bullying, which triggers negative consequences for the victims, such as the focus of interest in this study: symptoms of depression. Therefore, this study aimed to verify the predictive power of bullying victimization on depression, controlling for the effect of sex and type of school. In total, 426 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years (Mage = 14.53; SD = 2.10; 51.3% girls and 52.3% from public schools) answered the Bullying Victimization Scale, the Children’s Depression Inventory, and demographic questions. Correlations were performed, followed by hierarchical multiple regression, which showed that verbal bullying directly predicts depression, as the more adolescents are victims of this type of bullying, the higher the rates of depressive symptoms. Moreover, higher depression scores were found in girls, regardless of the type of school. These results are discussed from the literature, highlighting the problem of the current growing numbers of depression in adolescents, their development in school life, and the participation of professionals and guardians in the fight against bullying.

Keywords : Depression; Bullying; Adolescence; School.

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