Social distancing as a protective barrier against bullying actions among schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: Violence in the work or school environment is becoming a public health problem. Bullying in this scenario is characterized by a set of aggressive, repetitive, intentional behaviors which occur without evident motivation and affects countless young people daily. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to verify the incidence of bullying cases of elementary and high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic, describing the reasons for this victimization from an emic view; in addition, to compare associated factors such as nutritional status and body image between victims and non-victims of bullying. METHOD: This is a non-probabilistic descriptive design involving 115 students regularly enrolled in elementary and high school in public schools in the city of Dourados-MS, Brazil. RESULTS: The results indicated an incidence of 20.9% of victims, with verbal aggression (swearing, nicknames, gossip) and social exclusion being the most recurrent. A total of 78.2% of the victim students did not suffer bullying during social distancing, and 87.3% felt safer in their homes. The rate of overweight and obesity was similar between victims and non-victims, similar to the body perception result. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic was a protective barrier in school bullying actions.