The Relationship Between Peer Bullying and PTSS in Refugee Schoolchildren

Objective: This study explored the relationship between Peer bullying (PB) and Posttraumatic Stress
Symptomatology (PTSS) in a sample of refugee Syrian schoolchildren in Jordanian schools. Method:
The study sample was composed of 116 Syrian refugees (female = 62, 53.4% male = 54, 46.6%) ages
9–18 years with a mean age of 14.5 years (SD 1.18) who had been in Jordan for at least 3 years and
were studying in five public schools (three for females and two for males) located in Irbid and Mafraq
governorates in the northern area of Jordan between the June 14, 2018 and the March 20, 2019.

Results: The results indicated that 116 children out of 180 (64.4%) suffer from high levels of PB (physi-
cal M = 1.47, verbal M = 1.41, and relational M = 1.35). The most prevailing type of bullying was the

physical type, followed by the verbal and the relational types. Moreover, the three types of PB were pos-
itively and significantly correlated with PTSS (physical, r = .20, p , .05, verbal, r = .26, p , .01, rela-
tional, r = .22, p , .05), and (total PB, r = .43, p , .05). PB accounted for 14% of the variability in

PTSS. Finally, the results did not indicate any significant differences in PB by gender, age, length of ex-
posure to PB, living conditions, or disability. Conclusions: This study may provide a deeper under-
standing of the need to develop more thorough, institutionalized as well individualized, interventions to

reduce PB against schoolchildren from a refugee background in schools.