POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BULLYING AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Bullying is recognized as a meaningful problem during childhood and adolescence. The aim of this study was to develop a systematic review that facilitates the analysis of studies about bullying and physical activity. The Web of Science and Scopus were searched. Full-Text Collection were searched for the terms bullying, sport, exercise and physical activity. A sample size of 19 papers met the criteria to be included in the study. A total of 183,683 subjects participated as a sample of the review through the different publications analyzed. Of this sample, the majority corresponds to adolescents and students of Secondary Education, being students of Primary Education a minority proportion. Main results showed associations between bullying and both, fewer days in physical education class and lower physical activity levels. The results suggest that bullying can lead students to avoid active behaviors, so it is necessary to propose effective measures against harassment behavior, especially in overweight or obese children. Therefore, it is considered necessary, to propose effective measures against harassment and bullying behavior to avoid the vulnerability of students. In this case, teachers would play an important role in creating a supportive environment for physical activity and enjoyment of exercise among adolescents.