Citation

Tochigi M, Nishida A, Shimodera S, Oshima N, Inoue K, Okazaki Y, Sasaki T. PLoS One 2012; 7(9): e45736.

Affiliation

Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Public Library of Science)

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0045736

PMID

23029211

Abstract

PURPOSE: A number of studies have tried to identify risk factors for being involved in bullying in order to help developing preventive measures; however, to our knowledge, no study has investigated the effect of nocturnal lifestyle behavior such as sleep pattern or cellular phone usage. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between school bullying and sleep pattern or nocturnal cellular phone usage in adolescents. The effect of school size on school bullying was also examined. METHODS: Data from the cross-sectional survey of psychopathologies conducted for 19,436 Japanese students from 45 public junior high schools (7(th)-9(th) grade) and 28 senior high schools (10(th)-12(th) grade) were analyzed. RESULTS: Bullying status was significantly associated with irregular bedtime (OR = 1.23 and 1.41 for pure bullies and bully-victims, respectively) and e-mail exchange or calling after lights-out (OR = 1.53 and 1.31 for pure bullies and bully-victims, respectively) after controlling domestic violence and substance usage. In addition, school size was significantly associated with the increased risk of bullying in junior high school students (OR = 1.13 for bully-victims). CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggested that sleep pattern and nocturnal cellular phone usage might be risk factors for being involved in school bullying in adolescents. Although further accumulation of data is needed, progressive trend towards nocturnal lifestyle and increasing usage of cellular phone might impair the well-being of adolescents. School-based interventions for lifestyle including sleep pattern and cellular phone usage may be encouraged to reduce school bullying.

Language: en