The report, prepared by Professor Mauro Mediavilla and doctoral student Gisela Rusteholz, concludes that bullying has a negative effect that is equivalent to the loss of 3-5 months of education for the students who suffer it, which represents between 30% and 50% less education during the academic year.
Authors Mauro Mediavilla - professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the UV and professor in the Master's Degree in Economic Policy and Public Economics- and Universitat de València doctoral student Gisela Rusteholz quantify the impact of bullying based on the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test scores in Mathematics, Reading Comprehension and Science. To do so, they analysed a sample of almost 36000 15-year-old students, most of them in the 4th year of ESO, who were studying in schools throughout the country.
Almost 36000 samples are analysed among the student body
The results, collected in the report The impact of bullying on academic performance in Spain, indicate that bullying has a negative impact on all the skills evaluated, therefore, bullying stands as "another obstacle in the teaching-learning process, which can generate poorer academic performance and lead, in the short term, to an increase in the rates of truancy, school failure or early school leaving".
16.8% of 15-year-old students in Spain have been victims of bullying
Bullying affects the academic performance of the students who suffer it, to the point that they can lose between 3 and 5 months of learning in different areas during one academic year. Specifically, this means 3 months (30 %) less of formal education in science and up to 4 months (40 %) in mathematics and reading, which would amount to more than a third of the course, taking into account that these are about 10 months. These consequences can be aggravated and accumulate if the bullying situation lasts for more than one academic year, also conditioning the victim's expectations and possibilities for the future.
The negative impact of bullying would be equivalent to the loss of 3-5 months of education
Els autors observen que no hi ha diferències significatives per gènere ni per tipus de centre escolar (públic, privat i concertat) però si que existeixen diferències menors quan es considera la comunitat autònoma de residència de l'estudiant. Astúries, Castella i Lleó, Andalusia i Canàries són els territoris amb un major nombre d'alumnes que han patit violència escolar en els últims 12 mesos. D’altra banda, les Comunitats Autonòmiques amb menor prevalença són Galícia, Comunitat Valenciana, Castella-la Manxa, Melilla i Ceuta.
The Valencian Community, among the Autonomous Communities with the lowest prevalence of bullying
The authors find that there are no significant differences by gender or by type of school (public, private and subsidised), but there are minor differences when the autonomous community of residence of the student is considered. Asturias, Castilla y León, Andalucía and the Canary Islands are the territories with the highest number of students who have suffered school violence in the last 12 months. The Autonomous Communities with the lowest prevalence are Galicia, the Valencian Community, Castillia-La Mancha, Melilla and Ceuta.
The researchers advise "not to ignore or underestimate the problem, and to devote more effort to designing policies that allow for early detection of this phenomenon and effectively mitigate its effects". They also conclude that "it is necessary to carry out complementary studies that combine quantitative and qualitative approaches to the phenomenon, as well as comparative studies that allow us to learn about successful policies in other countries around us".
