Analysis of relationship between school bullying and age-grade distortion in Brazil

Purpose Education is an important means of achieving social mobility and increasing the possibility of economic development. However, violence can hinder or prevent the attainment of higher levels of education. This study sets out to analyze the relationship between school bullying and age-grade distortion, which measures the schooling lag of Brazilian students. Design/methodology/approach A representative sample of 28,146 Brazilian students from the 2019 National School Health Survey (PeNSE) was used. For data analysis, three multilevel econometric models were estimated, considering the different forms of bullying reported – physical, verbal and social – as dependent variables. Findings The results indicate that victimization by physical and social bullying is statistically associated with greater age-grade distortion, while verbal bullying did not show statistical significance. Possible mechanisms through which this relationship is established were discussed, including school integration and issues related to mental health status. Originality/value This highlights the need for specific policies, emphasizing targeted anti-bullying interventions and protective measures for both student victims and observers of this type of violence. Furthermore, unlike previous studies, this analysis examines the association and quantifies the marginal effect of each type of bullying through the estimation of multilevel models. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2024-0594