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Healthcare
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Bias-Based Bullying and Child and Adolescent Health
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Bias-Based Bullying and Child and Adolescent Health

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 268

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Maria Victoria Carrera-Fernández

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Education and Social Science, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Interests: bullying and cyberbullying; vulnerable youth; cisheteronormativity; gender-related violence; queer sexual education; lesbian; gay; bisexual and transgender studies
Dr. Jesús Deibe Fernández-Simo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Vigo, Campus of Ourense Avda. Casteleao, s/n, 32004 Ourense, Spain
Interests: social education; vulnerable youth; child residential centers; child welfare; social inclusion; transition to adulthood from foster care; bullying; disadvantaged schools; educational opportunities
Dr. Nazaret Blanco-Pardo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Vigo, Campus of Ourense Avda. Casteleao, s/n, 32004 Ourense, Spain
Interests: bullying and cyberbullying; adolescence; cisheteronormativity; gender-related violence; queer pedagogy; ageism; intersectionality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bullying is not just a problem limited to schools; it is a serious public health issue that affects at least 246 million children and adolescents from across the world. The United Nations (2017) [1] underlines that students who experience bullying experience more difficulties in their interpersonal relationships and are more likely to suffer from depression, loneliness, anxiety, low self-esteem, and suicidal ideation. Bias-based bullying, also called identity-based bullying or stigma-based bullying, refers to bullying based on a person's actual and/or perceived identity dimensions, including gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, religion, social class, disability status, or the intersection of two or more of these categories.

Studies indicate that the prevalence of bullying motivated by prejudice and stigma is high, emerging as an important concern in schools worldwide [2]. Research highlights that suffering from these negative experiences can have detrimental effects on the psychological functioning, academic performance, and behavioral adjustment of children and adolescents [3], potentially inducing depression, anxiety, suicidality, substance abuse, distress, and generally low health-related quality of life [4,5]. This Special Issue aims to explore the impact of bias-based bullying on children, adolescents, and young people, along with the risk and protective factors involved and educational programs and prevention and intervention strategies that can be implemented. We welcome empirical studies with quantitative or qualitative approaches, intervention studies, high-quality systematic reviews, and meta-analytic papers that address these issues.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

[1] United Nations. (2017). School violence and bullying global status report. https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/school-violence-and-bullying-globalstatus-report

[2] United Nations. (2019). Behind the numbers: Ending school violence and bullying. https://en.unesco.org/news/school-violence-and-bullying-major-global-issue-new-unesco-publication-finds

[3] Özdemir, S.B.; Caravita, S.C.; Thornberg, R. Bias-based harassment and bullying: addressing mechanisms and outcomes for possible interventions. Eur. J. Dev. Psychol. 2024, 21, 505–519. http://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2024.2376047

[4] Hurtado-Mellado, A.; Rodríguez-Hidalgo, A.J. Homophobic Bullying, Traditional Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in Adolescents According to Their Sexual Orientation. Behav. Sci. 2024, 14, 729. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14080729

[5] Rinehart, S. J.; Espelage, D. L. School level predictors of homophobic namecalling & sexual harassment victimization/perpetration among middle school youth. Psychol. Violence 2016, 6, 213–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039095

Dr. Maria Victoria Carrera-Fernández
Dr. Jesús Deibe Fernández-Simo
Dr. Nazaret Blanco-Pardo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bias-based bullying
  • prejudice
  • ableism
  • ethnocentrism
  • classism
  • cisheteronormatity
  • child and adolescent health
  • health-related quality of life

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 349 KB  
Article
Homophobic Bullying Among Adolescents: Prevalence, Associations with Emotional Factors, Psychopathological Symptoms, and Predictors
by Maite Garaigordobil, Juan Pablo Mollo-Torrico and Mónica Rodríguez-Enríquez
Healthcare 2025, 13(23), 3119; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13233119 (registering DOI) - 1 Dec 2025
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Despite progress in recognizing sexual diversity, homophobic bullying persists. This study had four objectives: (1) to identify the prevalence of homophobic bullying (victims, perpetrators, and bystanders); (2) to explore whether differences exist between victims and perpetrators as a function of sexual [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Despite progress in recognizing sexual diversity, homophobic bullying persists. This study had four objectives: (1) to identify the prevalence of homophobic bullying (victims, perpetrators, and bystanders); (2) to explore whether differences exist between victims and perpetrators as a function of sexual orientation with respect to emotional factors and psychopathological symptoms; (3) to analyze whether victims and perpetrators of homophobic bullying have sought psychological assistance significantly more often; and (4) to identify predictive variables of victimization and perpetration of homophobic bullying. Methods: The sample comprised 1558 Bolivian students aged 13 to 17 years (M = 14.64; SD = 0.96), who completed six standardized assessment instruments. Results: (1) A substantial percentage of students reported homophobic bullying behaviors. Victims: 76.6% reported experiencing homophobic behaviors, with significantly higher rates among non-heterosexual students (χ2 = 7.40, p < 0.01) and no gender differences (χ2 = 0.013, p > 0.05). Perpetrators: 11.8% admitted engaging in homophobic aggressive behaviors, with no differences by sexual orientation (χ2 = 0.306, p > 0.05) but significantly higher rates among males (χ2 = 8.49, p < 0.01). Bystanders: 51.9% reported witnessing homophobic behaviors, with significantly higher prevalence among non-heterosexual students (χ2 = 7.03, p < 0.01) and females (χ2 = 4.98, p < 0.05). (2) Analyses of variance showed that non-heterosexual victims scored significantly lower on emotional regulation, empathic joy, overall empathy, and happiness, and significantly higher on fear of negative social evaluation, overall social anxiety, all psychopathological symptom dimensions assessed (somatization, obsession–compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism), and the global severity index. Non-heterosexual perpetrators also displayed significantly higher scores on several psychopathological symptoms (depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation, psychoticism) and on the global severity index. Effect sizes were moderate for psychopathological symptoms and small for emotional variables. (3) Victims (OR = 1.392, 95% CI [1.04, 1.86], p = 0.024) and perpetrators (OR = 1.507, 95% CI [1.07, 2.10], p = 0.017) of homophobic bullying reported significantly higher rates of seeking psychological assistance in the past year compared to those uninvolved in bullying. (4) Hierarchical regression analyses identified significant predictors of victimization (R2 = 18.6%): non-heterosexual orientation, male gender, higher somatization, paranoid ideation, fear of negative evaluation, and lower happiness. For perpetration, only being male and higher levels of phobic anxiety emerged as significant predictors in the final model, explaining 5.1% of the variance. Conclusions: The findings underscore the urgency of implementing school-based psychoeducational anti-bullying prevention programs that include activities designed to foster tolerance toward sexual diversity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bias-Based Bullying and Child and Adolescent Health)
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