Bullying, Psychological, and Physical Trauma During Early Life Increase Risk of Major Depressive Disorder in Adulthood: A Nationwide Community Sample of Korean Adults

Abstract

BackgroundThere is an association between early life traumas and the development of depression in adults. Few studies have used nationwide population-based samples to investigate whether the type of early life trauma differentially influences the risk of developing depression.MethodsMajor depressive disorder and early life trauma were assessed using the Korean version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (K-CIDI) for DSM-IV psychiatric disorder and a questionnaire for early life trauma in the Korean Epidemiological Catchment Area Study in 2016. A total of 4,652 participants were included in the final analysis. This study evaluated the effect of the type and frequency of reported early life trauma on the risk of developing MDD and the association between reported early life trauma and differential symptoms of MDD.ResultsIndividuals with reported early life trauma had a 3.7-fold increased risk of MDD. The risk of MDD was associated with bullying trauma (odds ratio (OR) = 1.847, p = 0.005) after adjusting for age, gender, marriage, job, and education years. The risk of MDD was increased as the types of reported early life traumas increased.ConclusionBullying trauma during early life represents a risk factor for MDD, especially in individuals exposed to multiple traumas in early life.

Association of Psychotic Experiences and Incident Depression in a Longitudinal Population‐Based Community Survey

“…It is possible that the limited information able to be ascertained by a lay interviewer may miss diagnoses of depression and our results may underestimate the true association of PEs and depression. Additionally, we were unable to control for either adverse childhood experiences or bullying, which are both associated with PEs and a risk factor for depressive disorders, making it possible that traumatic childhood events are confounding the relationship between PEs and depression (36,37). Since this study only examined PEs in relation to depressive disorders, it is possible that PEs may be a non‐specific risk factor for later mental disorders as previous research with large epidemiologic surveys across multiple countries has suggested (16).…”

Development and validation of a new measure of school-age bullying experiences for adults: the Bullying and Exclusion Experiences Scale (BEES)

“…Bullying, or the repeated hurtful treatment of a targeted person who struggles to stop it, is a widespread and serious problem in schools [1,2]. Despite these experiences impacting an individual across the lifespan [3][4][5][6], there are surprisingly few options available for measuring its severity in adults. The respondents of bullying-focused instruments can be peers, teachers, parents, or the experiencer themselves [7,8].…”

Global trends and regional differences in the burden of anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder attributed to bullying victimisation in 204 countries and territories, 1999–2019: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study

“…Bullying victimisation is defined as the intentional, repeated and negative behaviour by one or more persons directed against a person who has difficulty defending himself or herself (Awiria et al ., 1994). In addition to physical, verbal, emotional and relational bullying, bullying can also take place over the internet via cyberbullying (Kim et al ., 2022a, 2022b). Bullying is a serious sociodevelopmental issue globally associated with a range of short- and long-term problems among victims (Maynard et al ., 2016).…”

“…Bullying has major links to anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder, with persistent impacts lasting through adulthood (Takizawa et al ., 2014; Lereya et al ., 2015; Islam et al ., 2020; Ucar et al ., 2020; Kim et al ., 2022a, 2022b). Children with bullying experience were reported to have a 1.56 times higher risk of anxiety and a 1.80 times higher risk of depressive disorders (major depressive disorder and dysthymia) than their counterparts (Jadambaa et al ., 2019).…”

“…Generally, children and adolescents are the most vulnerable to being bullied (UNESCO, 2019), and the effects of bullying victimisation can last a lifetime (Takizawa et al, 2014;Hu, 2021). Moreover, bullying has a specific geographical distribution (Kim et al, 2022a(Kim et al, , 2022b. The highest proportions of bullying victimisation among children and adolescents were found in Sub-Saharan Africa (48.2%), followed by North Africa (42.7%) and the Middle East (41.1%), and the lowest were found in Central America (22.8%), followed by Europe (25%) and the Caribbean (25%) (UNESCO, 2019).…”