Bullying and truancy amongst school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste: Results from the 2015 global school-based health survey

Derrick Nyantakyi OWUSU; Kenneth OWUSU ANSAH; Nutifafa Eugene Yaw DEY; Henry Ofori DUAH; Pascal AGBADI

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08797

Bullying and truancy amongst school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste: Results from the 2015 global school-based health survey

Derrick Nyantakyi OWUSU, Kenneth OWUSU ANSAH^*, Nutifafa Eugene Yaw DEY, Henry Ofori DUAH, Pascal AGBADI

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Sociology and Social Policy

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Introduction: Studies in Southeast Asia found that bullying commonly occurred among students, and it has a detrimental impact on their school attendance. However, there is a paucity of literature in Timor-Leste on the association between bullying and truancy. Therefore, this study examined the association between bullying and truancy among Timor-Leste school-going adolescents.

Methods: We used the 2015 Timor-Leste Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) dataset to examine our hypothesis in logistic regression models for both full adolescents (N = 3609) and gender stratified samples. The models further controlled for other sociodemographic variables. Statistical significance was pegged at p ≤ 0.05, and the analyses were performed in Stata version 14.

Results: About 28% [95% CI:25.7, 30.8] and 36% [95% CI:33.5, 39.5] of school-going adolescents had experienced bullying and truancy, respectively. In-school adolescents who were bullied were more likely to be truant in school even after controlling for the effects of sex, age, grade in school, food insecurity, current substance use, number of friends, colleague support, and parental involvement. This relationship remained significant in the full and gender stratified models. Additionally, school-going adolescents who were currently using substances were truant. Males who were in a physical fight while females who were physically attacked were more likely to be truant.

Conclusion: The study showed that bullying was related to truancy among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste. Implementation of interventions such as Project START (Stop Truancy and Recommend Treatment) to curtail the incidence of bullying, regulation of current substance use, creating an enabling environment to reduce physical fights, and attacks will significantly reduce the rate of truancy among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste.

Original language	English
Article number	e08797
Journal	Heliyon
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08797
Publication status	Published - 18 Jan 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful to the WHO for making the dataset used in this study publicly and freely available. We also appreciate the Research Empowerment Network (REN) for providing training support in data management and academic writing.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Keywords

Bullying
Logistic regression
School-going adolescents
Timor-leste
Truancy

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08797Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Bullying and truancy amongst school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste: Results from the 2015 global school-based health survey",

abstract = "Introduction: Studies in Southeast Asia found that bullying commonly occurred among students, and it has a detrimental impact on their school attendance. However, there is a paucity of literature in Timor-Leste on the association between bullying and truancy. Therefore, this study examined the association between bullying and truancy among Timor-Leste school-going adolescents. Methods: We used the 2015 Timor-Leste Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) dataset to examine our hypothesis in logistic regression models for both full adolescents (N = 3609) and gender stratified samples. The models further controlled for other sociodemographic variables. Statistical significance was pegged at p ≤ 0.05, and the analyses were performed in Stata version 14. Results: About 28% [95% CI:25.7, 30.8] and 36% [95% CI:33.5, 39.5] of school-going adolescents had experienced bullying and truancy, respectively. In-school adolescents who were bullied were more likely to be truant in school even after controlling for the effects of sex, age, grade in school, food insecurity, current substance use, number of friends, colleague support, and parental involvement. This relationship remained significant in the full and gender stratified models. Additionally, school-going adolescents who were currently using substances were truant. Males who were in a physical fight while females who were physically attacked were more likely to be truant. Conclusion: The study showed that bullying was related to truancy among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste. Implementation of interventions such as Project START (Stop Truancy and Recommend Treatment) to curtail the incidence of bullying, regulation of current substance use, creating an enabling environment to reduce physical fights, and attacks will significantly reduce the rate of truancy among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste.",

keywords = "Bullying, Logistic regression, School-going adolescents, Timor-leste, Truancy",

author = "OWUSU, {Derrick Nyantakyi} and {OWUSU ANSAH}, Kenneth and DEY, {Nutifafa Eugene Yaw} and DUAH, {Henry Ofori} and Pascal AGBADI",

note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to the WHO for making the dataset used in this study publicly and freely available. We also appreciate the Research Empowerment Network (REN) for providing training support in data management and academic writing. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s)",

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AU - OWUSU, Derrick Nyantakyi

AU - OWUSU ANSAH, Kenneth

AU - DEY, Nutifafa Eugene Yaw

AU - DUAH, Henry Ofori

AU - AGBADI, Pascal

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful to the WHO for making the dataset used in this study publicly and freely available. We also appreciate the Research Empowerment Network (REN) for providing training support in data management and academic writing. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022/1/18

Y1 - 2022/1/18

N2 - Introduction: Studies in Southeast Asia found that bullying commonly occurred among students, and it has a detrimental impact on their school attendance. However, there is a paucity of literature in Timor-Leste on the association between bullying and truancy. Therefore, this study examined the association between bullying and truancy among Timor-Leste school-going adolescents. Methods: We used the 2015 Timor-Leste Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) dataset to examine our hypothesis in logistic regression models for both full adolescents (N = 3609) and gender stratified samples. The models further controlled for other sociodemographic variables. Statistical significance was pegged at p ≤ 0.05, and the analyses were performed in Stata version 14. Results: About 28% [95% CI:25.7, 30.8] and 36% [95% CI:33.5, 39.5] of school-going adolescents had experienced bullying and truancy, respectively. In-school adolescents who were bullied were more likely to be truant in school even after controlling for the effects of sex, age, grade in school, food insecurity, current substance use, number of friends, colleague support, and parental involvement. This relationship remained significant in the full and gender stratified models. Additionally, school-going adolescents who were currently using substances were truant. Males who were in a physical fight while females who were physically attacked were more likely to be truant. Conclusion: The study showed that bullying was related to truancy among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste. Implementation of interventions such as Project START (Stop Truancy and Recommend Treatment) to curtail the incidence of bullying, regulation of current substance use, creating an enabling environment to reduce physical fights, and attacks will significantly reduce the rate of truancy among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste.

AB - Introduction: Studies in Southeast Asia found that bullying commonly occurred among students, and it has a detrimental impact on their school attendance. However, there is a paucity of literature in Timor-Leste on the association between bullying and truancy. Therefore, this study examined the association between bullying and truancy among Timor-Leste school-going adolescents. Methods: We used the 2015 Timor-Leste Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) dataset to examine our hypothesis in logistic regression models for both full adolescents (N = 3609) and gender stratified samples. The models further controlled for other sociodemographic variables. Statistical significance was pegged at p ≤ 0.05, and the analyses were performed in Stata version 14. Results: About 28% [95% CI:25.7, 30.8] and 36% [95% CI:33.5, 39.5] of school-going adolescents had experienced bullying and truancy, respectively. In-school adolescents who were bullied were more likely to be truant in school even after controlling for the effects of sex, age, grade in school, food insecurity, current substance use, number of friends, colleague support, and parental involvement. This relationship remained significant in the full and gender stratified models. Additionally, school-going adolescents who were currently using substances were truant. Males who were in a physical fight while females who were physically attacked were more likely to be truant. Conclusion: The study showed that bullying was related to truancy among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste. Implementation of interventions such as Project START (Stop Truancy and Recommend Treatment) to curtail the incidence of bullying, regulation of current substance use, creating an enabling environment to reduce physical fights, and attacks will significantly reduce the rate of truancy among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste.

KW - Bullying

KW - Logistic regression

KW - School-going adolescents

KW - Timor-leste

KW - Truancy

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U2 - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08797

DO - 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08797

M3 - Journal Article (refereed)

C2 - 35106390

AN - SCOPUS:85122988944

SN - 2405-8440

VL - 8

JO - Heliyon

JF - Heliyon

M1 - e08797

ER -

Bullying and truancy amongst school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste: Results from the 2015 global school-based health survey

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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