Investigation of the relationship between peer bullying and the possibility of suicide in high school students in terms of various variables

Suicide continues to be an increasingly important mental health problem both in the world and in Turkey. In recent years, it has been observed that there has been a significant increase in adolescent suicides. These increases make it necessary to reveal the factors that cause adolescent suicides. Peer bullying is shown as one of the factors that cause adolescent suicides. The aim of this study is to reveal the relationship between peer bullying and suicide probability in high school students in terms of gender, grade level and high school type. The research was carried out using the relational screening model. The sample of the study consisted of 436 students (256 girls, 180 boys) studying at 4 public high schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Kırıkkale province in the 2021-2022 academic year. Simple random sampling method was used in the sample selection process."Personal Information Form", "Peer Bullying Scale Adolescent Form" and "Suicide Probability Scale" were used as data collection tools in the study. Spearman Brown Rank Correlation Analysis (rs), one of the non-parametric tests, was used to reveal the direction and level of the relationship between the variables. The t-Test for Unrelated Samples from parametric tests and the Mann-Whitney U-Test from non-parametric tests were used to determine the differentiation of variables according to gender. One-Way Analysis of Variance (One Way ANOVA) and Kruskal Wallis - H Test, which are parametric tests, were used to determine the differentiation of the variables according to grade level and high school type. According to the research findings, it was determined that there is a positive and significant relationship between the probability of suicide in high school students and being a victim of peer bullying and being a bully. A positive and significant relationship was found between the sub-dimensions of bullying and the probability of suicide. It has been determined that the probability of suicide differs according to gender, and that there is a higher risk of suicide in female adolescents. It was determined that the probability of suicide did not differ according to the grade level. The level of suicide probability differs according to the type of high school; It was determined that the highest vocational high school students, the lowest imam hatip high school students. It has been determined that peer bullying differs according to gender, male adolescents are more victims of physical bullying and physical bullying than female adolescents, and female adolescents are victims of exclusion bullying more than male adolescents. It has been determined that the level of being a victim of peer bullying differs according to the class level, and the level of being a bully does not differ according to the class level. It has been determined that being a 9th grade student increases being a victim of peer bullying. Peer bullying differs according to the type of high school, and the level of being a victim and being a bully is at least among imam hatip high school students; Vocational high school students have the highest level of victimization, and the highest level of being a bully is science/soc. It has been determined that it is among the students of high school of sciences. When the research findings are evaluated, it can be said that peer bullying is one of the important risk factors for the possibility of suicide in adolescents.