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Help-Seeking for Bullying Victimization Among Adolescents in Germany

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Abstract

Background

Seeking help is an essential step for victims of bullying to cope with and possibly stop bullying and thus prevent and reduce the consequences of bullying. Focusing on the group of bullied adolescents, however, shows that many of them do not seek help.

Objectives

This study aimed to (1) describe the prevalence of help-seeking for bullying victimization, (2) analyze the relationship between help-seeking and associated individual factors, (3) describe the prevalence of formal help-seeking, and (4) investigate associations between formal help-seeking and the factors above.

Method

A subsample of a nationally representative survey of n = 453 12- to 17-year-old adolescents who reported being bullied in the last couple of months was analyzed. Bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to investigate factors associated with help-seeking and formal help-seeking.

Results

Of the bullied adolescents, 60% sought help after experiencing victimization. Among these, 32% sought formal help, for example, from social workers. Most (63%) also sought help from family and friends. Family cohesion and self-efficacy were positively and well-being was negatively associated with help-seeking. Among adolescents who sought help, age was positively and self-efficacy was negatively associated with formal help-seeking.

Conclusion

A trustful and supportive environment, especially within families, is essential to facilitate adolescents' help-seeking. Within formal settings, specific procedures for identifying and addressing bullied adolescents are necessary for younger adolescents and adolescents with lower self-efficacy.

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Notes

  1. Advice centers offer different types of support, assistance, and counseling, which can be differentiated according to the concerns of those seeking advice, for example, victim, addiction, debt, or educational counseling. They are run by local authorities, churches, associations, or organizations, and their use is usually free of charge.

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Funding

The study was funded by the German Youth Institute. No funds, grants, or other support was received.

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  1. Centre for the Prevention of Youth Crime, German Youth Institute, Nockherstr. 2, 81541, Munich, Germany

    Bettina Grüne & Diana Willems

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  1. Bettina Grüne
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Contributions

BG and DW developed the research questions and discussed the data models. BG conducted the analyses. BG and DW discussed the results and drew the conclusions. The first draft of the manuscript was written by BG; BG and DW commented on earlier versions of the manuscript. BG and DW read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bettina Grüne.

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Ethical Approval

The local legislation and institutional requirements did not require ethical review and approval for the study on human participants.

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The participants' legal guardians/next of kin provided written informed consent to participate in this study. The data collection procedure was coordinated with data protection officers of the German Youth Institute (DJI) and Infas (Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH).

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Grüne, B., Willems, D. Help-Seeking for Bullying Victimization Among Adolescents in Germany. Child Youth Care Forum (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-024-09799-4

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