Table 4 General characteristics and prevalence of bullying observed in the studies selected during the SLR

Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden

2019

Amarsson et al. [21]

Cyberbullying and traditional bullying among Nordic adolescents and their impact on life satisfaction

HBSC 2013/2014 (single item: “How often have you been bullied at school in the past couple of months?”)

32,210 students (11, 13 and 15 y.o.)

Norwegian Males: 2.7–7.8%

Females: 3.1–5.2% Danish M: 2.7–8.0%

F: 2.7–7.3%

Finnish M: 6.4–12.6%

F: 6.5–8.2% Greenlander

M: 13.0–26.4%

F: 13.7–18.6%

Icelandic M: 1.4–6.9%

F: 0.3–5.3%

Swedish M: 2.1–3.5%

F: 2.1–5.7%

Iceland

2018

Garmy et al. [22]

Bullying in School-aged Children in Iceland: A Cross-sectional Study

HBSC 2013/2014 in Iceland

11,018 students (11, 13 and 15 years old)

5.6%

Australia

2017

Thomas et al. [23]

Prevalence and correlates of bullying victimization and perpetration in a nationally representative sample of Australian youth

Single item: “In the past 12 months, how often were you bullied or cyberbullied by another person or group of young people?”

2,967 (11–14 y.o.)

15.5%

China

2017

Han et al. [24]

School Bullying in Urban China: Prevalence and Correlation with School Climate

Ten items on physical, verbal bullying and observers phenomena

1,020 middle school students

Victims: 26.10%

Observers: 28.90% (aggregated data)

United Kingdom

2017

Muijs et al. [25]

Can schools reduce bullying? The relationship between school characteristics and the prevalence of bullying behaviors

For students: The Olweus Bully‐Victim Questionnaire (OBVQ). For teachers: 65 items-questionnaire based on Kyriakides (2014) scales

Survey conducted in 35 primary schools (1,411 last year's students and their 68 teachers)

Victims: 21%

Actors: 11%

United Kingdom

2017

Bevilacqua et al. [26]

The role of family and school-level factors in bullying and cyberbullying: a cross sectional study

Gatehouse Bullying Scale (12 items)

6,667 students from 40 middle schools

Male: 9.99%

Female: 13.61%

USA (Maryland)

2017

Waarsdorp et al. [27]

Ten-Year Trends in Bullying and Related Attitudes Among 4th- to 12th-Graders

10 years survey; anonymous and 13 items questionnaire

246,306 students in 109 schools of Maryland

28.5% in 2005

13.4% in 2014

Vietnam

2017

Le et al. [28]

Temporal patterns and predictors of bullying roles among adolescents in Vietnam: a school-based cohort study

Two anonymous questionnaires; single item: “How often have you been bullied in any way during the last six months?”

1,424 middle and high school students

48.3%: not involved at all; 22.7% victims only; 6.9% bullies only;

22% bully-victims After six months:

62.1% not involved; 17.6% victims only; 4.7% bullies only; 15.5% bully-victims

Spain

2016

Sanchez-Quelia et al. [29]

Trend analysis of bullying victimization prevalence in Spanish adolescent youth at school

Based on HBSC 2014 in Spain

15,728 (11–12 y.o.)

5.5% (reported)

23.6% (observed)

U.S.A

2015

Huang et al. [30]

The impact of definition and question order on the prevalence of bullying victimization using student self-reports

Anonymous, online, 100 items-survey

17,301 students attending 119 high schools

Bullying (overall): 9.84% Vs 13.53% cases Vs controls

Italy

2014

National survey [31]

Health Behaviour in School-aged Children

A single item within a broader nationwide questionnaire, mainly focused on habits and lifestyles

4,072 (11–15 y.o.)

14%

Macedonia

2007

WHO-Unicef-CDC [32]

Global school-based student health survey (GSHS)

Single item: “During the past 30 days, on how many days were you bullied?”

2,114 students (13–15 y.o.) in 30 schools

10.1%

Tajikistan

2006

WHO-Unicef-CDC [33]

Global school-based student health survey (GSHS)

Single item: “During the past 30 days, on how many days were you bullied?”

9,714 students (13–15 y.o.) in 99 schools

7.4%