The prediction of peer bullying in adolescents by individual and environmental variables

In this study, it was aimed to examine the effects of individual (age, gender, inhibition of basic psychological needs) and environmental (adolescent parental relationships, friendship relationships, being victimized) variables on peer bullying in adolescents. Since the research aims to reveal the existence of change between two or more variables, it is a predictive correlational study. The study group consisted of a total of 831 students, 516 female (62.1%) and 315 male (37.9%) students studying at secondary and high school levels in Erzincan province in the 2022-2023 academic year. Personal Information Form, Peer Relationship Scale, Adolescent-Parent Relationship Scale, Peer Bullying Identification Scale Adolescent Form, Satisfaction and Inhibition of Basic Psychological Needs Scale were used in the study. Hierarchical Regression Analysis was used to analyze the data. According to the results obtained from the study, it was found that gender, age, inhibition of basic psychological needs, adolescent-parent relationship and victimization variables were significant predictors of adolescents' bullying levels, while the variable of friendship relationship was not a significant predictor. It was determined that being victimized was the strongest predictor and the model explained approximately 34% of the bullying level of adolescents. The results obtained from this study suggest that individual and family-participated interventions to be developed can help prevent peer bullying in adolescents.