This study measured the prevalence of bullying behavior in 10-year-old children and investigated the effect of the socioeconomic context on the impact of household dysfunction on bullying. We studied 5,338 members of the Portuguese Generation XXI birth cohort. Information on involvement in bullying, socioeconomic characteristics, and household dysfunction was collected by trained interviewers using structured questionnaires. Being a victim of bullying was reported by 14.4% of participants, being a bully by 1.4%, and being a bully-victim by 3.9%. Being a victim or both bully-victim, simultaneously, was more frequent among children from medium-high income families. Also, children from low-income families who reported household substance abuse, witnessed parents’ intimate partner violence, and were victims of physical violence, were more frequently victims of bullying; and those who experienced family violence were more frequently involved as bully-victims. Among children from medium-high income families, all these household adversity experiences significantly increased the odds of being victim, bully, or bully-victim. Thus, although children from medium-high income families are less likely to experience adversity at home, when it happens, there is a greater effect on their behavior, suggesting that better socioeconomic circumstances do not seem to act as a protective factor.

本研究测量了 10 岁儿童的欺凌行为流行率，并调查了社会经济背景对家庭功能障碍对欺凌的影响的影响。我们研究了葡萄牙 XXI 一代出生队列的 5,338 名成员。受过训练的访谈员使用结构化问卷收集有关参与欺凌、社会经济特征和家庭功能障碍的信息。14.4% 的参与者报告成为欺凌的受害者，1.4% 的人被欺负，3.9% 的人被欺负。中高收入家庭的孩子同时成为受害者或同时成为欺凌者的情况更为常见。此外，报告家庭滥用药物、目睹父母亲密伴侣暴力并成为身体暴力受害者的低收入家庭儿童，更经常成为欺凌的受害者；那些经历过家庭暴力的人更经常被卷入欺凌受害者。在中高收入家庭的孩子中，所有这些家庭逆境经历显着增加了成为受害者、欺凌者或欺凌者受害者的几率。因此，尽管来自中高收入家庭的孩子不太可能在家里经历逆境，但当逆境发生时，他们的行为会受到更大的影响，这表明更好的社会经济环境似乎并不能起到保护因素的作用。