Speakers
Description
In Japan, the Anti-Bullying Act was enacted in 2013. A retrospective online survey conducted in March 2024 assessed bullying and student evaluations of school initiatives in compulsory education, which includes six years of elementary and three years of middle school. The survey involved 3,500 high school students aged 15–18 (mean age 16.9 years, ±0.86; 16.5% male, 83.5% female) who had completed compulsory education. The findings revealed that 69.1% of students had received explanations about school anti-bullying initiatives (average frequency: 6.19 ± 2.92), and 75.2% had attended lessons aimed at preventing bullying (average frequency: 5.41 ± 2.94). During their compulsory education, 44.1% of students experienced victimization, 11.5% were perpetrators, 8.5% were both, and 54.4% had no involvement. A multinomial logistic regression analysis examined how explanations, lessons, and classroom conditions (rated 1–10) affected victimization and perpetration. The results showed that anti-bullying explanations produced no stable significant effects on victimization, perpetration, or both across grades. Preventive lessons demonstrated a cumulative suppressive effect on victimization in some grades, though this varied by grade. In contrast, better classroom climate was consistently linked to lower bullying: each 1-point increase in class evaluation was associated with an odds ratio for victimization of 0.62 (95% CI [0.60, 0.64], p < .001), corresponding to a 38% reduction. These findings suggest that, in addition to consistent implementation of anti-bullying explanations and lessons, improving classroom environments may be more effective in reducing bullying. Further verification through prospective studies is recommended.
Keywords
Act for the Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying, Anti-Bullying Measures, Student Evaluation, Classroom Environment and Bullying
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
|---|---|
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
