Relationship between bullying with depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life among Brazilian high school students from Southern Brazil

The aim is to analyze the associations of bullying victimization and perpetration with depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a sample of Brazilian high school adolescents. Adolescents (n=852, 50.2% female, mean age: 16.4 years) answered a questionnaire about depressive symptoms drawn from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. HRQoL was measured using the Kidscreen-10 Index, and bullying-related information was extracted from two different questions (victims and perpetrators). Multilevel logistic regression models were used. Adolescent victims of bullying had higher levels of depressive symptoms and a lower perception of HRQoL than those who were not victims. On the other hand, an inverse relationship was found for perpetrators of bullying compared to those who were not perpetrators. Adolescents' health-related impacts varied according to their role in bullying situations.