Bullying and Risk Factors of Involvement in Public Secondary Schools. A Case of Selected Schools in Machakos County, Kenya

Bullying in schools is a global problem that has short- and long-term negative health consequences on both the bullies and victims. A report by the National Center for Educational Statistics (2019) shows that one out of every five (20.2%) students report being bullied. Many studies have focused on causes and effects of bullying but not on risk factors contributing to bullying.This has long term physical, psychological and academic negative impact among students. The study tries to assess the risk factors of bullying in public secondary schools in Machakos sub county and is guided by research objective; to examine risk factors contributing to bullying in selected public secondary schools in Machakos schools in Machakos County.The researcher employed descriptive research design, purposive sampling and simple random sampling with a sample size of 280 respondents. The study used both open and closed ended questionnaires to collect data which was analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. The study used both descriptive and inferential statistics to describe quantitative data which were then analyzed, interpreted, and presented in form of tables and figures. The risk factors of involvement included socio -economic status of the family, academic performance, parental status, family size and school environment. The study concluded that Social economic status of the parents which included their state of income or financial stability was the leading risk factor of involvement followed by poor academic performance and the least factor was the school environment.