The relationship between peer bullying, loneliness, and social support in refugee adolescents

Problem: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between peer bullying, loneliness and perceived social support in refugee adolescents. Methods: This research was conducted with 514 refugee adolescents living in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. In this descriptive correlational study, data were collected using the Peer Bullying Scale Adolescent Form, the Loneliness Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Findings: The mean score of the refugee adolescents on the victim subscale of the Peer Bullying Scale was 86.71 +/- 27.51, and on the bully subscale was 68.08 +/- 16.41. The mean score of the adolescents on the Loneliness Scale was 49.63 +/- 9.50, on the Perceived Social Support was 52.19 +/- 1.66. A positive moderate relationship was observed between the bully subscale and the victim subscale of the Peer Bullying Scale (p < 0.05). No relationship was found between the bully and victim subscales of the Peer Bullying Scale and the scores for the Loneliness Scale and the Perceived Social Support (p > 0.05). The male refugee youth were found to have higher mean victim and bully scores than the female refugee youth. Conclusion: In light of these results, the reasons for the peer bullying of refugee adolescents should be investigated and solutions should be developed based on the reasons. It is recommended to conduct quantitative and qualitative research aimed at revealing the reasons why refugee adolescents may engage in bullying and be exposed to bullying in the future.