The Impact of School Bullying Victim and Depression on Suicidal Ideation of Middle School Students

Objective: To identify the impact of school bullying victim and depression on suicidal ideation of middle school students in Gwangju city. Methods: The subjects were 1,200 students from 5 middle schools. Study instrument for bullying victim was 3-point 12-items (a= .91) developed by Korean Psychological Association (1993), for depression 4-point 21 -items (a= .93) developed by Beck(l976) and for suicidal Ideation 2-point 71 -items (a= .95) developed by Shin(l993). Data were collected by self-reported structured questionnaires from Dec. 23th 2004 to May 10th 2005, and analyzed with the frequency, percentage, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's Correlation Coefficients, and Stepwise Multiple Regression using SPSS/Win 12.0 program. Results: Prevalence of bullying victim was 68.8% in general groups, 24.0% in low risk, and 7.2% in high-risk group. In depression, 40.8%(moderate 22.0%; severe 18.8%) were serious. In suicidal ideation, 2.6% were high-riskers. Mean scores of bullying victim were 4.94, 15.09 in depression, and 20.83 in suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation was significantly positive correlation with bullying victim(r =. 325, p = .000) and depression(r = .603, p = .000). Depression was significantly influencing predictive variable on suicidal ideation (36.4%). Conclusion: Based on the above findings, the authors suggest that comparison study on the impact of bullying victim and depression on suicidal ideation. Also, school-based suicprevention program for adolescents be developed according to bullying victim, depression, and suicidal ideation.