Abstract:
Bullying behavior is most common problem in late school age children. It affects bullies and victims physically, mentally and socially. This predictive correlational research aimed to examine predicting factors of bullying behavior in late school age children. A stratified random sampling method was used to recruit 170 students from grade 5 and 6 in an extra large school in Primary Educational Service Area Chonburi Office 1. Data were conducted from November to December 2021. Research instruments consisted of a demographic record form, the Revised Thai Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the violent media consumption questionnaire, the parenting styles questionnaire, the influence of peers with bullying behavior questionnaire and the bullying behavior questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of all questions were .84, .70, .86, .77 and .93, respectively. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistic and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The study results revealed that appropriate parenting style, violent media consumption, influence of peers with bullying behavior and self-esteem could together explain variance of bullying behavior in these late school age children for 33.4 % (R 2 = .334,p< .05). The appropriate parenting style was the best predictor (β = -.273, p< .001) followed by violent media consumption (β = .225,p< .01), influence of peers with bullying behavior (β = .200,p< .01), and self-esteem (β = -.179,p< .05), respectively. These findings suggest that nurses and healthcare personnel should promote appropriate parenting style, teach and advice school age children to avoid using social media with violence and friends with bullying behavior, and enhance their self-esteem in order to effectively prevent bullying behavior in late school age children.