Long-term effects of bullying
Abstract and Figures
Bullying is the systematic abuse of power and is defined as aggressive behaviour or intentional harm-doing by peers that is carried out repeatedly and involves an imbalance of power. Being bullied is still often wrongly considered as a 'normal rite of passage'. This review considers the importance of bullying as a major risk factor for poor physical and mental health and reduced adaptation to adult roles including forming lasting relationships, integrating into work and being economically independent. Bullying by peers has been mostly ignored by health professionals but should be considered as a significant risk factor and safeguarding issue.
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... Children victimized by bullying are at increased risk of somatic or psychosomatic problems (Wolke & Lereya, 2015), that can persist through childhood (Bond et al., 2001) and into adulthood (Copeland et al., 2013;Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Victimization is also related to lower educational attainment and earnings in adulthood and victimization in adulthood is related to low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety (Einarsen & Nielsen, 2015;Kowalski et al., 2018;Wolke & Lereya, 2015). ...
... Children victimized by bullying are at increased risk of somatic or psychosomatic problems (Wolke & Lereya, 2015), that can persist through childhood (Bond et al., 2001) and into adulthood (Copeland et al., 2013;Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Victimization is also related to lower educational attainment and earnings in adulthood and victimization in adulthood is related to low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety (Einarsen & Nielsen, 2015;Kowalski et al., 2018;Wolke & Lereya, 2015). ...
... Children victimized by bullying are at increased risk of somatic or psychosomatic problems (Wolke & Lereya, 2015), that can persist through childhood (Bond et al., 2001) and into adulthood (Copeland et al., 2013;Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Victimization is also related to lower educational attainment and earnings in adulthood and victimization in adulthood is related to low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety (Einarsen & Nielsen, 2015;Kowalski et al., 2018;Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Thus, many have highlighted the importance of prevention of bullying and treatment of its consequences (Arseneault et al., 2010;Einarsen & Nielsen, 2015;Moore et al., 2017). ...
Although rarely measured, victims’ suffering is likely a large part of the overall cost of bullying. We use the compensating income variation method on data from the Icelandic SAGA (Stress-And-Gene-Analysis) cohort to estimate the monetary compensation needed to offset the welfare loss associated with bullying of women. We examine differences by frequency and extensivity of bullying, the type of bullying, the victim´s age during most recent bullying and years since most recent bullying. We find considerable differences in results across those bullying characteristics. To put this in context, the yearly value of reduced well-being associated with bullying in adulthood ($14,532–25,002 depending on model specification) by far exceeds the societal cost of reduced productivity and absenteeism, and the value of reduced well-being associated with bullying in childhood ($46,391–48,565, depending on model specification) by far exceeds the sum of the societal medical cost, travel cost of parents, and cost of reduced productivity of parents. Therefore, the greatest monetary damage from bullying is likely associated with the victims suffering, and its inclusion in the evaluation of societal consequences of bullying is thus crucial.
... The cumulative effects of bullying have short, medium, and long-term consequences on children's health and well-being (Armitage, 2021;Olweus & Breivik, 2014;Wolke & Lereya, 2015). The negative effects are pervasive, and include emotional, physical, or behavior concerns (Rigby & Slee, 1993), and influenced by the intensity, frequency, type, and timing of bullying. ...
... Although the adverse impacts of bullying are most burdensome for bully victims, it is key to understanding the mechanisms behind all types of bullying. For this reason, bullying prevention and mitigation is essential, and requires intersectoral co-operation for effective outcomes (Armitage, 2021: Wolke & Lereya, 2015. Armitage (2021) argues that "Clear management and referral pathways for health professionals dealing with childhood bullying are lacking in both primary and secondary care, although specialist services are available locally and online" (p. ...
Bullying is both a major public health concern and a violation of children’s right to safety from violence. Within the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in the relation between bullying and children’s subjective well-being (SWB). Empirical research has unequivocally demonstrated the significant negative influence of bullying on children’s SWB. Within the South African context, violence and aggressive behaviour is widespread. The high prevalence of school bullying in South Africa is intricately related to the intergenerational experiences of violence, rooted in the history of racism, prejudice, oppression, exclusion, and the discriminatory practices of apartheid. However, there are limited large-scale studies that explores the relation between bullying victimization and children’s SWB. The current study, uses a population-based sample to explore the relation between bullying victimization and children’s SWB in South Africa, across provincial regions (nine provinces), age (10 - and 12-years), gender (boys and girls), geographical context (urban and rural), and socio-economic status (low, lower-middle, and middle socio-economic status). The study uses Subjective Well-Being Homeostasis Theory to frame and interpret the findings. We found a significant negative relationship between bullying victimization and children’s SWB. The combined influence of being hit, called unkind names and socially excluded explained 6 % of the variance in SWB for the overall sample, with some variation across provincial region, age groups, gender, geographical context, and socio-economic status. The study further found that increased incidences of bullying experiences were associated with lower mean scores of SWB. Finally, the study found that even though the different forms of bullying victimization have a significant negative influence on children’s SWB, the homeostatic mechanism is potentially mediating this influence and maintaining levels of SWB.
... Having a best friend was consistently positively associated with being more considerate across assessments, while a large number of friends and/or having a regular group of friends to hang out with were correlated with more frequent peer exclusion at follow-up. As the youth social world expands in adolescence, high-quality peer relationships may help shape cognitive and affective empathy and prosocial motivation [57,[151][152][153]. However, having large groups of friends could dilute the positive effects of high-quality friendships, and the intensity of connectedness within a social group. ...
... In terms of negative peer experiences, being cyberbullied (>8% of the cohort at follow-up) and feeling discriminated against based on weight, race, ethnicity, or skin color (~5% of the cohort at follow-up) were each correlated with more frequent peer exclusion. A number of studies have shown that victims of bullying are at higher risk of developing mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, and internalizing problems [152]. Here, in agreement with prior studies [153], higher internalizing behaviors were positively associated with empathetic behaviors, suggesting an indirect effect of bullying and/or some forms of discrimination on empathy. ...
Empathy is at the core of our social world, yet multidomain factors that affect its development in socially sensitive periods, such as adolescence, are incompletely understood. To address this gap, this study investigated associations between social, environmental and mental health factors, and their temporal changes, on adolescent empathetic behaviors/emotions and, for comparison, callous unemotional (CU) traits and behaviors, in the early longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development sample (baseline: n = 11062; 2-year follow-up: n = 9832, median age = 119 and 144 months, respectively). Caregiver affection towards the youth, liking school, having a close friend, and importance of religious beliefs/spirituality in the youth’s life were consistently positively correlated with empathetic behaviors/emotions across assessments (p<0.001, Cohen’s f = ~0.10). Positive family dynamics and cohesion, living in a neighborhood that shared the family’s values, but also parent history of substance use and (aggregated) internalizing problems were additionally positively associated with one or more empathetic behaviors at follow-up (p<0.001, f = ~0.10). In contrast, externalizing problems, anxiety, depression, fear of social situations, and being withdrawn were negatively associated with empathetic behaviors and positively associated with CU traits and behaviors (p<0.001, f = ~0.1–0.44). The latter were also correlated with being cyberbullied and/or discriminated against, anhedonia, and impulsivity, and their interactions with externalizing and internalizing issues. Significant positive temporal correlations of behaviors at the two assessments indicated positive (early) developmental empathetic behavior trajectories, and negative CU traits’ trajectories. Negative changes in mental health adversely moderated positive trajectories and facilitated negative ones. These findings highlight that adolescent empathetic behaviors/emotions are positively related to multidomain protective social environmental factors, but simultaneously adversely associated with risk factors in the same domains, as well as bully victimization, discrimination, and mental health problems. Risk factors instead facilitate the development of CU traits and behaviors.
... The bullying victims might also find it difficult to look for friends and build a friendship. They seemed dislike to living with other people and not having social support (Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Bullying victims should have gained attention and consultation to manage their bullying cases. ...
Bullying on nursing students occurred in more than half of the population. The incidents of bullying left negative impacts on the victims physically, psychologically, and socially. This study identifies the bullying case on nursing care students during academic learning and the roles of the students when bullying occurred. This descriptive quantitative study applied a survey design. This study used Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument (APRI), distributed via Google Form. The respondents were nursing program students that selected convenience sampling. The sample applied some inclusion criteria: the students had to undergo face-to-face learning and online learning. The sampling stage resulted in 207 respondents from three grades. The study analyzed the data with univariate analysis, in the forms of percentages and frequencies. Verbal bullying occurred with a percentage of 31.4%, social bullying with a percentage of 12.16%, and physical bullying with a percentage of 2.32%. The researchers found that 151 respondents, 78.74%, were bullying victims. A percentage of 93.23% of respondents, 193 respondents were women. A percentage of 85.71%, 12 respondents out of 14 respondents, were male. A percentage of 0.96%, 2 respondents, committed the bullying action. A percentage of 45.89%, 95 respondents defended the victims. 100 respondents or 48.45% of participant in this study were outsiders when bullying happened. This study concluded that most students ever experienced bullying cases with the most incidents of verbal bullying. Most students played the role of outsiders during the incidents of bullying
Physical abuse is the state of harming the child's body by the people around him. Scars of unknown cause, traces resulting from burning, spots due to impact on any part of the body, traces caused by a bite by another person, bruises and stains caused by squeezing with any tool, burns and scars caused by smoking cigarettes on the victim reflect physical abuse. Problems such as rumination disorders, problems in socialization, lack of self-respect, depression, fear of all situations, withdrawal behaviors, incompatibility, colic, problems in mental perception processes, and decreased academic achievement are observed in these children.
Öz Amaç: Akran zorbalığı küresel bir sorundur. İsim takma, dışlama, dedikodu yapma, malına zarar verme, vurma veya itme gibi çeşitli şekillerde olabilen akran zorbalığı, okul çağındaki çocukların deneyimlediği, maruz kalan tüm öğrencileri -zorba, kurban ve seyircileri- etkileyen süreğen bir sorundur. Zorbalık, herhangi bir nedenle kendini başkalarından güçlü/ üstün hisseden bir kişinin, kendisinden bir şekilde daha zayıf/ savunmasız gördüğü bir kişiyi tekrar tekrar, kasıtlı, istenmeyen söz veya eylemlerle hedef alarak "gücünü" saldırgan bir şekilde kullanmasıdır. Zorbaların hedefi olan kurbanlar ya fiziksel ya da duygusal olarak incinirler ve başlarına gelenleri kendi başlarına durdurmakta zorlanırlar. Akranlar tarafından zorbalığa uğramak, olaylara maruz kalan tüm bireyler için kısa ve uzun vadeli olumsuz sonuçlar doğurabilir. Okullarda zorbalık olaylarına müdahale edilmediğinde, zorbalığın etkileri yetişkinlikte de devam etmektedir. Bu nedenle erken yaşlardan itibaren deneyimlenen zorbalık davranışları ve bunların çocukların kaygı ve sosyal anksiyete düzeyleri arasındaki ilişkinin araştırılması akran zorbalığını önleyici politika ve müdahale programları geliştirilmesi için önemlidir. Araştırmada akran zorbalığı davranışlarının türü ve sıklığı belirlenerek yaşanan akran zorbalığının çocukların kaygı ve sosyal anksiyete düzeyleriyle ilişkisi Çankırı örnekleminde incelenmiştir. Yöntem: Araştırma küme örnekleme yöntemiyle iki ilkokulda ve 590 öğrenci üzerinde yapılmıştır. Veriler Akran Zorbalığı Ölçeği Çocuk Formu, Çocuklar İçin Durumluk-Sürekli Kaygı Envanteri ve Çocuklar için Sosyal Anksiyete Ölçeği-Yenilenmiş Formu kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Veriler betimsel analizler yoluyla SPSS programı kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Bulgular: Araştırmada ilkokul öğrencilerinin yaklaşık dörtte birinin akran zorbalığına maruz kaldığı, kurban ve zorbalık davranışları cinsiyete, kronik rahatsızlığa, ebeveynlerin boşanmış olmasına ve sınıf düzeyine göre farklılaştığı bulunmuştur. Ayrıca, kurban puanları ile zorbalık, sürekli kaygı ve sosyal anksiyete puanları arasında pozitif yönlü anlamlı bir korelasyon bulunmuştur. Sonuç: Okullarda zorbalık davranışlarının düzenli olarak incelenmesi ve kurban ve seyircilere zorbalık durumunda neler yapabileceklerinin öğretilmesi zorbalıkla ilişkili depresyon ve kaygının azalmasını sağlayabilir. Özgünlük: Araştırma Çankırı’da akran zorbalığı sıklığı üzerine yapılan ilk çalışmadır.
Stress is an important factor in disease risk and health outcomes; stress responses are now included in conceptual models of minority health and health disparities. This chapter reviews models of stress and adversity, identifies chronic stressors and stress responses in diverse communities, and examines the impact of chronic stressors in these groups. The effects of psychological interventions on stress responses, biobehavioral mechanisms, and cancer outcomes are also reviewed to identify priorities for future basic behavioral science research and intervention studies to enhance stress responses and cancer outcomes among disparity populations.
This study tested whether bias motivation is an aggravating element of bullying victimization, such that victims of bullying involving bias experience lower wellbeing than victims of nonbiased bullying and nonvictims. Using nationally representative data from the 2009/2010 United States Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey ( n = 11,335), I use coarsened exact matching (CEM) to compare wellbeing for youth in exposure and control groups who are similar on the measured covariates. Results reveal that biased bullying is positively associated with unwellness, implying that greater research and policy attention to this form of bullying is warranted.
Background and objectives:
Environmental factors such as serious trauma or abuse and related stress can lead to nightmares or night terrors. Being bullied can be very distressing for children, and victims display long-term social, psychological, and health consequences. Unknown is whether being bullied by peers may increase the risk for experiencing parasomnias such as nightmares, night terrors, or sleepwalking.
Methods:
A total of 6796 children of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort were interviewed at elementary school age (8 and 10 years) about bullying experiences with a previously validated bullying interview and at secondary school age (12.9 years) about parasomnias such as nightmares, night terrors and sleepwalking by trained postgraduate psychologists.
Results:
Even after adjusting for pre-existing factors related to bullying and parasomnias, being bullied predicted having nightmares (8 years odds ratio [OR], 1.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-1.44; 10 years OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.35-1.94) or night terrors (8 years OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.10-1.75; 10 years OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.18-1.98) at age 12 to 13 years. Especially being a chronic victim was associated with both nightmares (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.46-2.27) and night terrors (OR, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.48-2.74). Being a bully/victim also increased the risk for any parasomnia at ages 8 or 10 years (8 years OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.08-1.88; 10 years OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.30-2.36). In contrast, bullies had no increased risk for any parasomnias.
Conclusions:
Being bullied increases the risk for having parasomnias. Hence, parents, teachers, school counselors, and clinicians may consider asking about bullying experiences if a child is having parasomnias.
The aim was to examine prospectively associations between bullying involvement at 14–15 years of age and self-reported general health and psychosocial adjustment in young adulthood, at 26–27 years of age. A large representative sample (N = 2,464) was recruited and assessed in two counties in Mid-Norway in 1998 (T1) and 1999/2000 (T2) when the respondents had a mean age of 13.7 and 14.9, respectively, leading to classification as being bullied, bully-victim, being aggressive toward others or non-involved. Information about general health and psychosocial adjustment was gathered at a follow-up in 2012 (T4) (N = 1,266) with a respondent mean age of 27.2. Logistic regression and ANOVA analyses showed that groups involved in bullying of any type in adolescence had increased risk for lower education as young adults compared to those non-involved. The group aggressive toward others also had a higher risk of being unemployed and receiving any kind of social help. Compared with the non-involved, those being bullied and bully-victims had increased risk of poor general health and high levels of pain. Bully-victims and those aggressive toward others during adolescence subsequently had increased risk of tobacco use and lower job functioning than non-involved. Further, those being bullied and aggressive toward others had increased risk of illegal drug use. Relations to live-in spouse/partner were poorer among those being bullied. Involvement in bullying, either as victim or perpetrator, has significant social costs even 12 years after the bullying experience. Accordingly, it will be important to provide early intervention for those involved in bullying in adolescence.
We examined whether socioeconomic status (SES) could be used to identify which schools or children are at greatest risk of bullying, which can adversely affect children’s health and life.
We conducted a review of published literature on school bullying and SES. We identified 28 studies that reported an association between roles in school bullying (victim, bully, and bully-victim) and measures of SES. Random effects models showed SES was weakly related to bullying roles. Adjusting for publication bias, victims (odds ratio [OR] = 1.40; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24, 1.58) and bully-victims (OR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.36, 1.74) were more likely to come from low socioeconomic households. Bullies (OR = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.97, 0.99) and victims (OR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.94, 0.97) were slightly less likely to come from high socioeconomic backgrounds.
SES provides little guidance for targeted intervention, and all schools and children, not just those with more socioeconomic deprivation, should be targeted to reduce the adverse effects of bullying.
Significance
Bullying is a common childhood experience that affects children at all income levels and racial/ethnic groups. Being a bully victim has long-term adverse consequences on physical and mental health and financial functioning, but bullies themselves display few ill effects. Here, we show that victims suffer from greater increases in low-grade systemic inflammation from childhood to young adulthood than are seen in others. In contrast, bullies showed lower increases in inflammation into adulthood compared with those uninvolved in bullying. Elevated systemic low-grade inflammation is a mechanism by which this common childhood social adversity may get under the skin to affect adult health functioning, even many years later.
Background
Peer victimization is ubiquitous across schools and cultures, and has been suggested as one developmental pathway to anxiety disorders. However, there is a dearth of prospective studies examining this relationship. The purpose of this cohort study was to examine the association between peer victimization during adolescence and subsequent anxiety diagnoses in adulthood. A secondary aim was to investigate whether victimization increases risk for severe anxiety presentations involving diagnostic comorbidity.Methods
The sample comprised 6,208 adolescents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children who were interviewed about experiences of peer victimization at age 13. Maternal report of her child's victimization was also assessed. Anxiety disorders at age 18 were assessed with the Clinical Interview Schedule–Revised. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association between victimization and anxiety diagnoses adjusted for potentially confounding individual and family factors. Sensitivity analyses explored whether the association was independent of diagnostic comorbidity with depression.ResultsFrequently victimized adolescents were two to three times more likely to develop an anxiety disorder than nonvictimized adolescents (OR = 2.49, 95% CI: 1.62–3.85). The association remained after adjustment for potentially confounding individual and family factors, and was not attributable to diagnostic overlap with depression. Frequently victimized adolescents were also more likely to develop multiple internalizing diagnoses in adulthood.Conclusions
Victimized adolescents are at increased risk of anxiety disorders in later life. Interventions to reduce peer victimization and provide support for victims may be an effective strategy for reducing the burden associated with these disorders.
To examine whether traditional and cyber bullying victimization were associated with adolescent's mental health problems and suicidal ideation at two-year follow-up. Gender differences were explored to determine whether bullying affects boys and girls differently.
A two-year longitudinal study was conducted among first-year secondary school students (N = 3181). Traditional and cyber bullying victimization were assessed at baseline, whereas mental health status and suicidal ideation were assessed at baseline and follow-up by means of self-report questionnaires. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess associations between these variables while controlling for baseline problems. Additionally, we tested whether gender differences in mental health and suicidal ideation were present for the two types of bullying.
There was a significant interaction between gender and traditional bullying victimization and between gender and cyber bullying victimization on mental health problems. Among boys, traditional and cyber bullying victimization were not related to mental health problems after controlling for baseline mental health. Among girls, both traditional and cyber bullying victimization were associated with mental health problems after controlling for baseline mental health. No significant interaction between gender and traditional or cyber bullying victimization on suicidal ideation was found. Traditional bullying victimization was associated with suicidal ideation, whereas cyber bullying victimization was not associated with suicidal ideation after controlling for baseline suicidal ideation.
Traditional bullying victimization is associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation, whereas traditional, as well as cyber bullying victimization is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems among girls. These findings stress the importance of programs aimed at reducing bullying behavior, especially because early-onset mental health problems may pose a risk for the development of psychiatric disorders in adulthood.
Childhood bullying is a major risk factor for physical and mental health, educational attainment and social relationships. Epidemiological evidence has highlighted that its adverse consequences continue into adulthood leading to substantial health and wider societal costs. With the advent of cyber bullying, childhood bullying is increasingly pervasive. Children can now be reached and subjected to systematic peer abuse at all times. Given the limited impact of school-based initiatives, there is increasing interest in developing the role of primary care services to support the early identification and response to childhood bullying, but evidence-based interventions are lacking.
This paper considers the scale and health-related consequences of childhood bullying. It argues the need for greater awareness and responsiveness in primary care as part of a community-wide, integrated approach to stemming its harmful effects. Primary care is well-placed to identify affected children, provide support to children and their parents to help improve coping skills and mitigate the effects of bullying, where necessary making referrals to appropriate agencies for associated physical and mental health problems. However, evidence-based guidance on how best to achieve this is lacking. Effective interventions that can be delivered in primary care to identify affected children and intervene to minimise the consequences of being bullied are needed, and this paper suggests a number of research questions that need to be addressed.
Children who experience bullying, a type of peer victimization, show worse mental and physical health cross-sectionally. Few studies have assessed these relationships longitudinally. We examined longitudinal associations of bullying with mental and physical health from elementary to high school, comparing effects of different bullying histories.
We analyzed data from 4297 children surveyed at 3 time points (fifth, seventh, and tenth grades) in 3 cities. We used multivariable regressions to test longitudinal associations of bullying with mental and physical health by comparing youth who experienced bullying in both the past and present, experienced bullying in the present only, experienced bullying in the past only, or did not experience bullying.
Bullying was associated with worse mental and physical health, greater depression symptoms, and lower self-worth over time. Health was significantly worse for children with both past and present bullying experiences, followed by children with present-only experiences, children with past-only experiences, and children with no experiences. For example, 44.6% of children bullied in both the past and present were at the lowest decile of psychosocial health, compared with 30.7% of those bullied in the present only (P = .005), 12.1% of those bullied in the past only (P < .001), and 6.5% of those who had not been bullied (P < .001).
Both chronic and current bullying are associated with substantially worse health. Clinicians who recognize bullying when it first starts could intervene to reverse the downward health trajectory experienced by youth who are repeated targets.
One suggested approach to preventing adolescent dating violence is to prevent behavioral precursors to dating violence, such as bullying. However, no longitudinal study has examined bullying as a behavioral precursor to dating violence. In this study, longitudinal data were used to examine (1) whether direct and indirect bullying perpetration in the sixth grade predicted the onset of physical dating violence perpetration by the eighth grade and (2) whether the associations varied by sex and race/ethnicity of the adolescent.
Data were collected in school from sixth graders in three primarily rural counties and then again when students were in the eighth grade. Analyses were conducted with 1,154 adolescents who had not perpetrated dating violence at the sixth-grade assessment. The sample was 47% male, 29% black, and 10% of another race/ethnicity than black or white.
Direct bullying, defined as hitting, slapping, or picking on another kid in the sixth grade, predicted the onset of physical dating violence perpetration by the eighth grade, controlling for indirect bullying and potential confounders. Although indirect bullying, defined as spreading false rumors and excluding students from friendship groups, was associated with the onset of physical dating violence perpetration in bivariate analyses, it did not predict the onset of physical dating violence when controlling for direct bullying. None of the associations examined varied by sex or race/ethnicity of the adolescents.
Our findings suggest that efforts targeted at preventing direct bullying may also prevent the onset of physical dating violence.
Objective:
The authors examined midlife outcomes of childhood bullying victimization.
Method:
Data were from the British National Child Development Study, a 50-year prospective cohort of births in 1 week in 1958. The authors conducted ordinal logistic and linear regressions on data from 7,771 participants whose parents reported bullying exposure at ages 7 and 11 years, and who participated in follow-up assessments between ages 23 and 50 years. Outcomes included suicidality and diagnoses of depression, anxiety disorders, and alcohol dependence at age 45; psychological distress and general health at ages 23 and 50; and cognitive functioning, socioeconomic status, social relationships, and well-being at age 50.
Results:
Participants who were bullied in childhood had increased levels of psychological distress at ages 23 and 50. Victims of frequent bullying had higher rates of depression (odds ratio=1.95, 95% CI=1.27-2.99), anxiety disorders (odds ratio=1.65, 95% CI=1.25-2.18), and suicidality (odds ratio=2.21, 95% CI=1.47-3.31) than their nonvictimized peers. The effects were similar to those of being placed in public or substitute care and an index of multiple childhood adversities, and the effects remained significant after controlling for known correlates of bullying victimization. Childhood bullying victimization was associated with a lack of social relationships, economic hardship, and poor perceived quality of life at age 50.
Conclusions:
Children who are bullied-and especially those who are frequently bullied-continue to be at risk for a wide range of poor social, health, and economic outcomes nearly four decades after exposure. Interventions need to reduce bullying exposure in childhood and minimize long-term effects on victims' well-being; such interventions should cast light on causal processes.