Mental Health Problems and Social Resource Factors Among Bullied Children in the Nordic Countries: A Population Based Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

This study estimated internalising and externalising mental health problems among bullied-, unclear if bullied- and not bullied children aged 4-16 in the Nordic countries, and identified resource factors to bullied children's mental health. Data comes from the cross-sectional NordChild survey 2011 and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire, including 6,214 children in the analyses. Mental health problems were most prevalent among children parent-reported as bullied (29.2-44.3 %), followed by children with unclear status if bullied (13.0-25.6 %) and not bullied children (5.3-7.9 %). Externalising problems were more prevalent in all groups except among bullied girls aged 7-16, where internalising problems were more prevalent. Ten potential resource factors to bullied children's mental health were analyzed, finding that (1) children with at least three close friends had higher odds to be mentally healthy than children with fewer close friends and (2) bullied boys had higher odds to be mentally healthy if they regularly practiced sport.

The impact of childhood bullying on the daily lives of Nordic children and young adolescents

“…The results from this study support the findings in previous studies on mental health in bullied children as we identified a strong association between bullying and having mental health problems. We showed that bullying is associated with emotional symptoms, which is in line with the results reported in previous Nordic studies on depressive symptoms and bullying . Furthermore, a Nordic study showed that the more frequent children and adolescents were bullied, the higher the risk for poorer mental health.…”

Bullied online but not telling anyone: what are the reasons for not disclosing cybervictimization?

“…Bullying victimization is associated with mental health problems and bullied children continue to be at risk of poor social, health, and economic outcomes several decades after exposure (Bjereld, Daneback, Gunnarsdóttir, & Petzold, 2014;Kowalski, Giumetti, Schroeder, & Lattanner, 2014;Takizawa, Maughan, & Arseneault, 2014). In a study of time trends during 1994-2006 including 11-15-year-old school children in 21 European and North American countries, the largest decrease in occasional and chronic bullying victimization was measured in the Czech Republic (Molcho et al, 2009).…”

Differences in prevalence of bullying victimization between native and immigrant children in the Nordic countries: a parent‐reported serial cross‐sectional study

“…Experience of bullying victimization is associated with mental health problems (Bjereld et al . ), such as psychotic symptoms, self‐harm and violent behaviour, problems that can have long‐lasting effects (Arseneault et al . ; Takizawa et al .…”