Association of bullying behaviour with smoking, alcohol use and drug use among school students in Erbil City, Iraq

Background: Substance use and bullying are prevalent among adolescents and have a wide range of adverse outcomes. The association of bullying with substance use has not been examined in Kurdistan and Iraq, which have suffered from the effects of long-term conflict and economic hardship. Aims: To examine the association between each form of bullying among adolescents and substance use. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of public schools in Erbil City, Iraq in 2017. The study involved 1070 adolescents selected from 35 schools using a multistage cluster sampling method. A self-reported close-ended questionnaire was used for data collection. Male and female students attending grades 7–12 and aged 13–18 years were included. Results: The overall prevalence of bullying behaviour was 60.0%; 30.8% were victims, 26.2% were bully-victims, and 3.0% were bullies. There was a significant association between different forms and categories of bullying and substance use. The strongest association was with the students involved in sexual bullying, followed by racial and cyber bullying. The strongest association between bullying and substance use was found in the bully-victim category, followed by victims and bullies. Conclusions: Substance use and bullying behaviour seem to be widespread problems among adolescents in Erbil schools. Substance use is significantly associated with different categories of bullying behaviour. There is a need for effective school-based preventive interventions to tackle these problems. Future research needs to examine the likely direction of the association between bullying and substance use.

Exposure to violence and its relationship to mental health among young people in Palestine

Background: Exposure to violence is a significant risk factor for the development of psychopathology in young people. Research on the mental health consequences of violence exposure in youth has focused mostly on post-traumatic stress disorder, however, the association with depression and anxiety has also been established. As a result of the longstanding Israeli–Palestinian conflict, young Palestinians are vulnerable to exposure to various types of violence. Aims: We examined psychiatric symptomatology and its relationship to direct and indirect forms of violence exposure. Methods: A representative household survey of 2481 Palestinian youth was conducted in 2014. Self-report measures included psychiatric symptomatology (global distress, depression, anxiety)and violence exposure (personal victimization, witnessed, vicariously heard about). Results: The proportion of elevated symptoms of global distress (46%), depression (55%), and (37%)anxiety was high; 47% had been a personal victim, 71% had witnessed violence, and 69% had heard about violence experienced by someone close to them. In logistic regression analysis, controlling for other bivariate correlates, exposure to any violence event, as well as any of the 3 types of violence exposure, were independently associated with each of the 3 measures of elevated psychiatric symptomatology. Females were 4 times more likely to report elevated psychopathology, despite being less likely to experience each type of violence.Conclusions: These findings suggest the need for services that cater to the mental health needs of youth in settings of high violence exposure, and that gender-specific strategies may be useful