Objective: This study aimed to gain a better understanding of bullying as victims and aggressors in youths born with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP).
Design: This is an observational study comparing youths with UCLP (ages 8-16) and their parents with a control group (CG) of children in state schools and their parents.
Participants: Forty-one youths (43% female; mean age 12.4 ± 2.3 years) and their parents (n = 40) composed the UCLP group and 56 youths (47% female; mean age 12.4 ± 1.2 years) and their parents (n = 33) were in the CG.
Main outcome measure: The Olweus Bully/Victim questionnaire self- and parent-report was used to assess victims and aggressors involved in bullying behaviors.
Results: About 30% of all youths reported being a frequent victim of bullying at least 2-3 times a month and an additional 32.3% were bullied 1-2 times in the last 2-3 months. For the total sample, parents significantly (P < .05) underestimated any bullying, both as a victim (youths 62.5% vs parents 45.7%) and as an aggressor (youths 53.1% vs parents 37.1%). There were no significant group differences in experiencing any bullying between the youths with UCLP (52.5%) and the CG youths (69.6%) or in its perception by their parents (43.2% and 48.5%, respectively). There were no group differences between the combinations of victim and aggressor.
Conclusions: While there were no differences in bullying prevalence in our sample between youths with UCLP and their peers, this study highlights differences in bullying perceptions between parents and their children.
Keywords: bullies; bullying; cleft lip and palate; multi-rater; victim.