Does bullying cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers

Abstract

Objectives To establish the relation between recurrent peer victimisation and onset of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in the early teen years. Design Cohort study over two years. Setting Secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. Participants 2680 students surveyed twice in year 8 (aged 13 years) and once in year 9. Main outcome measures Self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression were assessed by using the computerised version of the revised clinical interview schedule. Incident cases were students scoring >12 in year 9 but not previously. Prior victimisation was defined as having been bullied at either or both survey times in year 8. Results Prevalence of victimisation at the second survey point in year 8 was 51% (95% confidence interval 49% to 54%), and prevalence of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression was 18% (16% to 20%). The incidence of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in year 9 (7%) was significantly associated with victimisation reported either once (odds ratio 1.94, 1.1 to 3.3) or twice (2.30, 1.2 to 4.3) in year 8. After adjustment for availability of social relations and for sociodemographic factors, recurrent victimisation remained predictive of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression for girls (2.60, 1.2 to 5.5) but not for boys (1.36, 0.6 to 3.0). Newly reported victimisation in year 9 was not significantly associated with prior self report of symptoms of anxiety or depression (1.48, 0.4 to 6.0). Conclusion A history of victimisation and poor social relationships predicts the onset of emotional problems in adolescents. Previous recurrent emotional problems are not significantly related to future victimisation. These findings have implications for how seriously the occurrence of victimisation is treated and for the focus of interventions aimed at addressing mental health issues in adolescents.

Bullying victimisation and paranoid ideation in people at ultra high risk for psychosis

“…Furthermore, recent work indicated that bullying victimisation is related not only to negative schematic beliefs, but also to depression and social anxiety, in people at high risk of developing psychosis, . Although we found an association between victimisation and paranoia, the experience of victimisation could lead to depression and anxiety , Bond et al, 2001, which can influence the formation of paranoid ideation (Freeman et al, 2002, Garety and.…”

Bullying and School Safety

“…This adds depth to the previous literature that supports a connection between bullying, suicide, and depression. 1,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] Victims have significantly lower academic achievement in school than bystanders using an objective measure of achievement. 4 Whether the lower academic achievement among victims preceded or was a consequence of being a victim cannot be determined from this cross-sectional study.…”

Victimización de Pares y Satisfacción con la Vida: La Influencia del Apoyo de Profesores y Compañeros de la Escuela

“…En este sentido, se ha encontrado que los estudiantes que viven victimización entre pares tienen niveles más bajos de salud mental y física, aceptación social y autoconcepto (Boulton & Smith, 1994;Rigby, 2000) y pueden sufrir problemas de comportamiento y actitudes, mal funcionamiento en la escuela, síntomas de depresión y ansiedad, dificultad para hacer amigos, malas relaciones con los compañeros de clase y una alta sensación de soledad (Bond, Carlin, Thomas, Rubin & Patton, 2001;Graham & Bellmore, 2007).…”