Impact of school bullying victimization and social supports on anxiety symptoms among medical college students / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand impacts of past experiences of school bullying victimization and social supports on anxiety symptoms of college students, and to provide basic data for appropriate mental health education.@*Methods@#By using cluster random sampling method, a questionnaire survey was conducted among freshman, sophomore and junior college students majoring in clinical medicine from one medical university in Heilongjiang Province. The questionnaire included general demographic information, school bullying and self-rating anxiety scale.@*Results@#In this survey, 647 students (28.4%) were reported of anxiety symptoms, including 462 (20.3%) with mild anxiety, 162 (7.1%) with moderate anxiety, and 23(1.0%) with severe anxiety. Reported rate of mild, moderate and severe anxiety among college students with bullying victimization experiences during primary school students was 22.8%,33.9% and 59.6%, respectively (χ2=93.05, P<0.05). The figure among students with bullying victimization during junior school was 21.5%, 45.2% and 57.3%, respectively (χ2=186.79, P<0.05). Among those with bullying victimization experiences, anxiety symptoms showed no differences between students with or without social supports from peers, parents and teachers (χ2=7.95, P=0.54; χ2=11.57, P=0.24). Ordinal logistic regression showed bullying victimization during primary school and affection to primary school positively associated with anxiety symptoms among college students, while bullying victimization experiences during junior school showed no association with anxiety symptoms in college.@*Conclusion@#Bullying victimization experiences during primary school shows significant association with anxiety symptoms among college students.