Homophobic Bullying Among Adolescents: Prevalence, Associations with Emotional Factors, Psychopathological Symptoms, and Predictors

Background/Objectives: Despite progress in recognizing sexual diversity, homophobic bullying persists. This study had four objectives: (1) to identify the prevalence of homophobic bullying (victims, perpetrators, and bystanders); (2) to explore whether differences exist between victims and perpetrators as a function of sexual orientation with respect to emotional factors and psychopathological symptoms; (3) to analyze whether victims and perpetrators of homophobic bullying have sought psychological assistance significantly more often; and (4) to identify predictive variables of victimization and perpetration of homophobic bullying. Methods: The sample comprised 1558 Bolivian students aged 13 to 17 years (M = 14.64; SD = 0.96), who completed six standardized assessment instruments. Results: (1) A substantial percentage of students reported homophobic bullying behaviors. Victims: 76.6% reported experiencing homophobic behaviors, with significantly higher rates among non-heterosexual students (χ2 = 7.40, p < 0.01) and no gender differences (χ2 = 0.013, p > 0.05). Perpetrators: 11.8% admitted engaging in homophobic aggressive behaviors, with no differences by sexual orientation (χ2 = 0.306, p > 0.05) but significantly higher rates among males (χ2 = 8.49, p < 0.01). Bystanders: 51.9% reported witnessing homophobic behaviors, with significantly higher prevalence among non-heterosexual students (χ2 = 7.03, p < 0.01) and females (χ2 = 4.98, p < 0.05). (2) Analyses of variance showed that non-heterosexual victims scored significantly lower on emotional regulation, empathic joy, overall empathy, and happiness, and significantly higher on fear of negative social evaluation, overall social anxiety, all psychopathological symptom dimensions assessed (somatization, obsession–compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism), and the global severity index. Non-heterosexual perpetrators also displayed significantly higher scores on several psychopathological symptoms (depression, anxiety, hostility, paranoid ideation, psychoticism) and on the global severity index. Effect sizes were moderate for psychopathological symptoms and small for emotional variables. (3) Victims (OR = 1.392, 95% CI [1.04, 1.86], p = 0.024) and perpetrators (OR = 1.507, 95% CI [1.07, 2.10], p = 0.017) of homophobic bullying reported significantly higher rates of seeking psychological assistance in the past year compared to those uninvolved in bullying. (4) Hierarchical regression analyses identified significant predictors of victimization (R2 = 18.6%): non-heterosexual orientation, male gender, higher somatization, paranoid ideation, fear of negative evaluation, and lower happiness. For perpetration, only being male and higher levels of phobic anxiety emerged as significant predictors in the final model, explaining 5.1% of the variance. Conclusions: The findings underscore the urgency of implementing school-based psychoeducational anti-bullying prevention programs that include activities designed to foster tolerance toward sexual diversity.