The long-term effects of being bullied or a bully in adolescence on externalizing and internalizing mental health problems in adulthood

Johannes Foss Sigurdson1, A. M. Undheim1, J. L. Wallander2,1, S. Lydersen1, A. M. Sund1,3
1Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, The Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare (RKBU), Trondheim, Norway
2University of California, Merced, USA
3St. Olav Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

Tóm tắt

The aim is to examine associations between bullying involvement in adolescence and mental health problems in adulthood. Information on bullying-involvement (being bullied, bully–victim, aggressive toward others) and non-involved was collected from 2464 adolescents in Mid-Norway at mean age 13.7 and again at mean age 14.9. Information about mental health problems and psychosocial functioning was collected about 12 years later at mean age 27.2 (n = 1266). All groups involved in bullying in young adolescence had adverse mental health outcomes in adulthood compared to non-involved. Those being bullied were affected especially regarding increased total sum of depressive symptoms and high levels of total, internalizing and critical symptoms, increased risk of having received help for mental health problems, and reduced functioning because of a psychiatric problem in adulthood. While those being aggressive toward others showed high levels of total and internalizing symptoms. Both those being bullied and bully–victims showed an increased risk of high levels of critical symptoms. Lastly, all groups involved in bullying on adolescence had increased risk of psychiatric hospitalization because of mental health problems. Involvement in bullying in adolescence is associated with later mental health problems, possibly hindering development into independent adulthood.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Copeland WE, Wolke D, Angold A, Costello EJ (2013) Adult psychiatric outcomes of bullying and being bullied by peers in childhood and adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry. 70:419–426 Craig W, Harel-Fisch Y, Fogel-Grinvald H, Dostaler S, Hetland J, Simons-Morton B et al (2009) A cross-national profile of bullying and victimization among adolescents in 40 countries. Int J Public Health. 54:216–224 Due P, Holstein BE, Soc MS (2008) Bullying victimization among 13 to 15-year-old school children: results from two comparative studies in 66 countries and regions. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 20:209–221 Jansen DEMC, Veenstra R, Ormel J, Verhulst FC, Reijneveld SA (2011) Early risk factors for being a bully, victim, or bully/victim in late elementary and early secondary education. The longitudinal TRAILS study. BMC Public Health 11:440 Moore SE, Norman RE, Sly PD, Whitehouse AJO, Zubrick SR, Scott J (2014) Adolescent peer aggression and its association with mental health and substance use in an Australian cohort. J Adolesc 37:11–21 Sourander A, Jensen P, Ronning JA, Niemela S, Helenius H, Sillanmaki L et al (2007) What is the early adulthood outcome of boys who bully or are bullied in childhood? The Finnish “From a Boy to a Man” study. Pediatrics 120:397–404 Undheim AM, Sund AM (2010) Prevalence of bullying and aggressive behavior and their relationship to mental health problems among 12- to 15-year-old Norwegian adolescents. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 19:803–811 Olweus D, Limber SP (2010) Bullying in school: evaluation and dissemination of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. Am J Orthopsychiatry 80:124–134 Roland E (2002) Bullying, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. Educ Res. 44:55–67 Kumpulainen K, Rasanen E, Henttonen I, Almqvist F, Kresanov K, Linna SL et al (1998) Bullying and psychiatric symptoms among elementary school-age children. Child Abuse Neglect. 22:705–717 Whitney I, Smith PK (1993) A survey of the nature and extent of bullying in junior middle and secondary-schools. Educ Res. 35:3–25 Achenbach TM, Howell CT, McConaughy SH, Stanger C (1998) Six-year predictors of problems in a national sample: IV. Young adult signs of disturbance. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 37:718–727 Krueger RE, Markon KE (2006) Reinterpreting comorbidity: a model-based approach to understanding and classifying psychopathology. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2:111–133 Klomek AB, Marrocco F, Kleinman M, Schonfeld IS, Gould MS (2007) Bullying, depression, and suicidality in adolescents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 46:40–49 Kumpulainen K, Rasanen E (2000) Children involved in bullying at elementary school age: Their psychiatric symptoms and deviance in adolescence—an epidemiological sample. Child Abuse Negl 24:1567 Sourander A, Helstela L, Helenius H, Piha J (2000) Persistence of bullying from childhood to adolescence—a longitudinal 8-year follow-up study. Child Abuse Negl 24:873–881 van Lier PAC, Crijnen AAM (2005) Trajectories of peer-nominated aggression: risk status, predictors and outcomes. J Abnorm Child Psychiatry 33:99–112 Campbell SB, Spieker S, Burchinal M, Poe MD (2006) Trajectories of aggression from toddlerhood to age 9 predict academic and social functioning through age 12. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 47:791–800 Schwartz D, Gorman AH, Nakamoto J, Toblin RL (2005) Victimization in the peer group and children’s academic functioning. J Educ Psychol 97(3):425–435 Goldbaum S, Craig WM, Pepler D, Connolly J (2003) Developmental trajectories of victimization: identifying risk and protective factors. J Appl Sch Psychol. 19:17 Hansen HH, Hasselgard CE, Undheim AM, Indredavik MS (2013) Bullying behaviour among Norwegian adolescents: psychiatric diagnoses and school well-being in a clinical sample. Nord J Psychiatry 68:355–361 Fosse GK, Holen A (2004) Cohabitation, education, and occupation of psychiatric outpatients bullied as children. J Nerv Ment Dis. 192:385–388 Trotta A, Di Forti M, Mondelli V, Dazzan P, Pariante C, David A et al (2013) Prevalence of bullying victimisation amongst first-episode psychosis patients and unaffected controls. Schizophr Res 150:169–175 Bronfenbrenner U (1977) Toward an experimental ecology of human development. Am Psychol 32:513–531 Swearer SM, Hymel S (2015) Understanding the psychology of bullying: moving toward a social-ecological diathesis–stress model. Am Psychol 70:344–353 Lazarus RS (1993) Coping theory and research: past, present, and future. Psychosom Med 55:234–247 Wolke D, Copeland WE, Angold A, Costello EJ (2013) Impact of bullying in childhood on adult health, wealth, crime, and social outcomes. Psychol Sci 24:1958–1970 Takizawa R, Maughan B, Arseneault L (2014) Adult health outcomes of childhood bullying victimization: evidence from a five-decade longitudinal British birth cohort. Am J Psychiatry. 171:777–784 Sund AM (2004) Development of depressive symptoms in early adolescence. NTNU, Trondheim Alsaker F (2003) Qualgeister und ihre Opfer. Mobbing unter Kindern-und wie man damit umgeth. Huber Verlag, Bern Achenbach TM (1991) Manual for the youth self report and the 1991 profile. University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry, Burlington Angold A, Weissman MM, John K, Merikangas KR, Prusoff BA, Wickramaratne P et al (1987) Parent and child reports of depressive symptoms in children at low and high-risk of depression. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 28:901–915 American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 3rd edn. APA, Washington DC Sund AM, Larsson B, Wichstrom L (2003) Psychosocial correlates of depressive symptoms among 12–14-year-old Norwegian adolescents. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 44:588–597 ILO (1990) The revised international standard classification of occupations (ISCO-88) Geneva Achenbach TM, Rescorla LA (2003) Manual for the ASEBA adult forms & profiles. University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families, Burlington Achenbach TM, Bernstein A, Dumenci L (2005) DSM-oriented scales and statistically based syndromes for ages 18 to 59: linking taxonomic paradigms to facilitate multitaxonomic approaches. J Pers Assess 84:49–63 Sourander A, Haavisto A, Ronning JA, Multimaki P, Parkkola K, Santalahti P et al (2005) Recognition of psychiatric disorders, and self-perceived problems. A follow-up study from age 8 to age 18. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 46:1124–1134 Dmitrienko A, D’Agostino R (2013) Traditional multiplicity adjustment methods in clinical trials. Stat Med 32:5172–5218 Rothman KJ (2014) Six persistent research misconceptions. J Gen Intern Med 29(7):1060–1064 Sund AM, Larsson B, Wichstrom L (2001) Depressive symptoms among young Norwegian adolescents as measured by the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ). Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 10:222–229 Achenbach TM, Edelbrock CS (1983) Manual for the child behavior checklist and revised child behavior profile. Department of Psychiatry of the University of Vermont Starr LR, Davila J (2008) Excessive reassurance seeking, depression, and interpersonal rejection: a meta-analytic review. J Abnorm Psychol 117:762 Pepler D, Craig W, O’Connell P, Jimerson SR, Swearer SM, Espelage DL (2010) Peer processes in bullying: informing prevention and intervention strategies. Handbook of bullying in schools: an international perspective, pp 469–479 Arseneault L, Bowes L, Shakoor S (2010) Bullying victimization in youths and mental health problems: ‘Much ado about nothing’? Psychol Med 40:717–729 Marini ZA, Dane AV, Bosacki SL (2006) Direct and indirect bully-victims: Differential psychosocial risk factors associated with adolescents involved in bullying and victimization. Aggress Behav 32:551–569 Schäfer M, Korn S, Smith PK, Hunter SC, Mora-Merchán JA, Singer MM et al (2004) Lonely in the crowd: recollections of bullying. Br J Dev Psychol. 22:379–394 Tossone K, Jefferis E, Bhatta MP, Bilge-Johnson S, Seifert P (2014) Risk factors for rehospitalization and inpatient care among pediatric psychiatric intake response center patients. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 8(1):27 Arnett JJ (2000) Emerging adulthood. A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. Am Psychol 55(5):469–480 Brener ND, Billy JO, Grady WR (2003) Assessment of factors affecting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: evidence from the scientific literature. J Adolesc Health 33(6):436–457 Archer J, Coyne SM (2005) An integrated review of indirect, relational, and social aggression. Pers Soc Psychol Rev. 9(3):212–230 Peskin MF, Tortolero SR, Markham CM (2006) Bullying and victimization among Black and Hispanic adolescents. Adolescence. 41:467–484 Zaborskis A, Cirtautiene L, Zemaitiene N (2005) Bullying in Lithuanian schools in 1994-2002. Medicina (Kaunas). 41:614–620