Bullying has long been a concern in schools. The prevalence of bullying has increased over the years and is now considered a public health concern. Moreover, detrimental effects of bullying have been recognized, to include psychological effects such as depression. Thus, this research is therefore conducted to determine the prevalence of bullying and its association with the symptoms of depression among Junior High School Students in selected Public Schools in Zamboanga City. This study utilized a cross-sectional analytic study design. The respondents were 712 Junior High School students from selected Public Schools in the city who were enrolled for SY 2018-2019. The researcher utilized the PECK Questionnaire and 399 (56.04%) students were noted to have experienced bullying in the previous months. Victimization was subsequently subdivided into subscales as to the form of bullying namely Relational-Verbal, Cyberbullying, Physical and Cultural Bullying. Furthermore, students were noted to have experienced more than one form of bullying. Majority (83.96%) of the students experienced relational-verbal bullying. Symptoms of depression were assessed utilizing the Beck Depression Inventory. 352 (49.44%) reported to have experienced depressive symptoms and majority (25.84%) were classified with moderate depression. Among the victims of bullying, majority (67.92%) had depressive symptoms. A statistically significant association was noted with victimization and symptoms of depression. However, no significant association was noted across the forms of bullying and among those who experienced single or multiple bullying types.

Keyword: Bullying Symptoms of depression Junior high school students