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Introduction: According to the latest Ombudsman's report, aggressive behavior happens frequently in our country's schools (Spain), appearing in all its manifestations: insults, threats, physical aggression, social isolation, etc. Now, however, we are witnessing a growing interest in this phenomenon and the possible risk factors that may help us understand and prevent these behaviors from early childhood. Individual risk factors such as age and sex have been well documented; however, other studies indicate additional personal variables such as disability, impulsivity or nationality. Method: The purpose of this study is to describe, in primary school children, the relationship between degree of involvement in bullying, certain personal variables and the experience of social rejection. The study includes a total of 426 students enrolled in the later years of primary school (4th, 5th and 6th grades) from three public schools in the Region of Murcia (Spain). The Bull-S Test questionnaire was used for analyzing the degree of involvement in bullying and for studying the sociometric dimension. Results: The results confirm that this phenomenon is happening at younger ages, particularly in Primary School. The study also reveals that there is a relationship between certain personal variables (age, gender, specific needs for educational support, immigration and repeated grade) and bullying, with significant involvement from children in all profiles. Children with specific needs for educational support appear as victims and grade-repeaters and immigrant pupils appear as bullies and bully-victims. Discussion and Conclusion: Certain personal variables (age, gender, specific needs for educational support, immigration and grade repetition), in interaction with social rejection, emerge as risk factors for involvement in bullying. From this perspective, the phenomenon requires an evaluation that describes the subjects directly involved in bullying behaviors and outlines the contextual aspects that may be affecting and supporting it. (Contains 4 tables.)

Most researchers into bullying agree on its social implications and on some inner aspects of the aggressive situations. Methods of identifying bullying among peers used to be very costly in time and effort. In order to simplify the task, the Bull-S questionnaire has been elaborated. After its confirmation as a usable instrument in Spanish schools, we attempted to find out whether it could also be a good tool in foreign schools, by applying it to both an English and a Spanish sample. Results showed very high similarity between samples, which allows us to say that the aspects measured by the questionnaire are the same in both samples. First, we did not find significant differences in the extent of bullying in schools. Second, an item-by-item comparison showed significant differences between means in only: "Leave out of activities and games." From a sociometric perspective, rejection is presented as associated with bullying and especially linked to victimisation, and acceptance is associated with those pupils not involved in bullying. Finally, factorial analyses confirmed that variables conformed to a different structure for bullies, for victims, and for not-involved pupils. These different structures are quite similar in both countries.

Background. The study of drug use and other adolescent problem behaviours is approached from different preventive strategies. Schools are important as an environment in assessing the situation. Most instruments to evaluate this problem are limited in the type of drugs as well as in the implementation of related risk behaviours. Methods. This paper presents the psychometric study of a scale based on the ESTUDES survey to detect adolescent substance use, health consequences and challenging behaviours in educative contexts. FRIDA was selected to assess the concurrent validity. Participants were 1.264 students (M = 14.41, SD = 1.43) who participated voluntarily. Informed consent was requested. An exploratory factor analysis of the 19 selected items was carried out using the WLMSV method on tetrachoric correlation matrix and Geomin rotation with MPLUS was employed. Results. The results showed the scale consists of two factors: Factor I, substance abuse and health consequences, based on the use of illegal drugs, and Factor II, use of legal drugs and challenging behaviours. Conclusions. It is a short instrument for the detection of drug use, health consequences and challenging behaviours in the educational field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing bullying in Spanish Schools. In this study we try to settle down the principal points for analysing bullying in Spanish Schools (Primary and Secondary Schools), using the same instrument, the Bull-S questionnaire, very well validated and used in different Countries and Contexts. This study presents data from the development of bullying from 1990 to 2006, in Spanish Schools, in terms of level of incidence. Also included the analysis of the personal characteristics of those involved pupils, sociometric aspects, and situational points like, frequency, ways and places where bullying takes place and the self-report of the importance and incidence in security perceived by the whole class-group. All these aspects can contribute to the knowledge of the prevalence and diffusion of bullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]