COVID-19 School Closures and Peer Violence in Adolescents in 42 Countries: Evidence from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study

An increasing body of literature shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures on the mental health and well-being of adolescents. However, few studies have examined how national-level lockdown measures, specifically school closures, are related to levels of peer violence among adolescents. The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study allows a unique opportunity to examine cross-nationally across representative samples of adolescents, the relationship between days of school closure and levels of school and cyberbullying perpetration and victimization and physical fighting. The current cross-sectional study, which includes data from 244,405 children (50.6