Cultural Variation in Aggressive Behavior: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Students' Exposure to Bullying across 32 Countries

Introduction: The prevalence rates of bullying vary significantly across countries and continents. Specifically, UNESCO estimates that the prevalence rates vary from 22.8% (CentralAmerica) to 48.2% (Sub-Saharan Africa). Recently these differences among countries andregions have been attributed to culture- and country-level variables. Thus, the first purpose ofthis study is to examine the comparability of bullying in schools across countries. Secondly, across-cultural comparison of the latent mean scores of bullying is implemented. Method: The data of 286,481 adolescent students (M=15.78, SD=0.29) from 32 countrieswere analyzed using multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (MLCFA) and multigroup factoralignment. Results: Results indicated that the meaning of bullying is equivalent within and between cultures. However, cross-cultural differences in bullying are apparent. East Asian countries havethe lowest latent means of bullying, while Southeast Asian countries have the highest means.Anglo-Saxon, Eastern European, Mediterranean, South American, and Middle East countriesdisplayed rather higher scores. Discussion and Conclusion: These findings underscore the existence of cross-cultural differential responding in bullying measures. Further, the implicit role of culture as an importantvariable that determines the rates of bullying is underscored.