Victims of Bullying and Tobacco Use Behaviors in Adolescents: Differences Between Bullied at School, Electronically, or Both

BACKGROUNDBeing a victim of bullying is associated with greater risk of youth substance use; however, research specifically examining whether tobacco use behaviors differ among adolescents who were bullied at school only, electronically only, or both at school and electronically is limited. METHODSWe examined the associations between being a victim of bullying (at school only, electronically only, or both at school and electronically) and use of tobacco products using data from the 2013 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. RESULTSGirls who were bullied both at school and electronically reported the highest odds of all tobacco use behaviors (ever use of cigarettes, current use of cigarettes, and current use of any tobacco product) as compared with girls who were not bullied after adjusting for covariates. Conversely, for boys, only the association between being bullied electronically only and ever use of cigarettes remained significant after adjusting for covariates. CONCLUSIONSResults from this study indicate that electronic bullying may differentially influence the odds of tobacco use in high school students as compared with bullying that occurs at school only. Confirmation of these findings could inform interventions to reduce both bullying and tobacco use in high school.