Bullying and Sexual Victimization as Predictors for Substance Abuse and Physical Fighting Among High School Students

Purpose: Bullying and sexual violence have both been associated with negative health behavior outcomes in adolescent and youth populations. Traditionally, these topics have been researched separately, however, studies suggest that polyvictimization may increase the risk of experiencing negative health outcomes and behaviors. The objective of this study is to explore the association between having experienced both bullying and sexual victimization with substance abuse and physical fighting among American high school students. Materials and Methods: The data from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) for high school students will be used. Explanatory variables will be chosen based on indication of bullying and sexual victimization. Bullying will include either experiencing electronic bullying or traditional bullying, and sexual victimization will include ever being physically forced to do sexual acts, physically forced to do sexual acts by someone you are dating or going out with, or physically hurt by someone you are dating or going out with. Dependent variables will include substance abuse and physical fighting. Logistic regression will be used to examine the association of experiencing both bullying and sexual victimization with substance abuse and physical fighting. Results: 15,624 students’ questionnaires were obtained. Weighted percentages show that 48.7% were females and 51.3% were males. In addition, 27.2% students were in 9th grade, 25.7% in 10th grade, 23.9% in 11th grade, and 23.1% in 12th grade. 15.5% of students reported being electronically bullied and 20.2% reported being bullied at school. 6.7% of students reported ever being physically forced to have sexual intercourse. Results from logistic regression are pending. The study predicts to find association between polyvictimization of experiencing both bullying and sexual victimization with substance abuse and physical fighting. Conclusions: Studies suggest that polyvictimization resulting from experiencing both bullying and sexual victimization may be associated with negative and violence-related behaviors in high school populations. When investigating the association between victimization and these behaviors, overestimation of a single form of victimization may occur if multiple forms of victimization are not accounted for since the behavior may be explained by other or multiple forms of victimization.