Peer victimization (bullying) on mental health, behavioral problems, cognition, and academic performance in preadolescent children in the ABCD Study

Abstract

ObjectivePeer victimization is a substantial early life stressor linked to psychiatric symptoms and poor academic performance. However, the sex-specific cognitive or behavioral outcomes of bullying have not been well-described in preadolescent children.MethodsUsing the baseline dataset of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study 2.0.1 data repository (N = 11,875), we evaluated associations between parent-reported bullying victimization, suicidality (suicidal ideation, intent, and/or behavior), and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), as well as internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, cognition, and academic performance.ResultsOf the 11,015 9-10-year-old children included in the analyses (5,263 girls), 15.3% experienced bullying victimization, as reported by the primary caregiver. Of these, boys were more likely to be bullied than girls (odds ratio [OR], 1.2 [95% CI, 1.1–1.3]; p = 0.004). Children who were bullied were more likely to display NSSI or passive suicidality (OR, 2.4 [95% CI, 2.0–2.9]; p < 0.001) and active suicidality (OR, 3.4 [95% CI, 2.7–4.2]; p < 0.001). Bullied children also had lower cognitive scores, greater behavioral problems, and poorer grades (p < 0.001). Across all participants, boys had poorer grades and greater behavioral problems than girls; however, bullied boys had greater behavioral problems than girls in several areas (p < 0.001). Compared to their non-bullied peers, bullied children with greater non-suicidal self-injury or suicidality also had greater behavioral problems and poorer grades (p < 0.001).ConclusionThese findings highlight the sex-specific effects of bullying, and the negative associations of bullying victimization with cognitive performance, behavioral problems, and academic performance. Future longitudinal studies will identify the natural history and neural correlates of these deficits during adolescence.

Associations of bullying perpetration and peer victimization subtypes with preadolescent’s suicidality, non-suicidal self-injury, neurocognition, and brain development

“…The association between general victimization and lower executive function was not found in our study, which is inconsistent with a recent study also conducted using ABCD data [ 20 ]. This might due to the differences in the way bullying was measured, as parent-reported dichotomous victimization (yes or no) variable based on KSADS was used in Menken et al’s study, whereas continuous victimization and perpetration variables measured by total score of 18 items in the self-reported PEQ questionnaire were used in our study, and we included both victimization and perpetration in the GLMM model in order to obtain a clearer picture of the relationship between peer bullying and children’s developmental outcomes.…”

“…Specifically, ample research evidence has underscored both bullying victimization and peer perpetration as established risk factors for suicide ideation (SI), suicide attempt (SA), and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) [ 14 – 20 ], while these associations might be different across subtypes of peer bullying. For instance, previous studies have confirmed the predictive effect of direct victimization (i.e., overt) rather than indirect victimization (i.e., relational, reputational) on SI [ 9 , 21 – 23 ], while inconsistent results exist [ 24 , 25 ].…”

“…Additionally, as one of the critical neurocognitive functions for building peer relationships [ 28 ], individuals’ executive function has been considered to be closely related to peer bullying [ 29 – 36 , 20 ]. Herein, poor working memory was strongly associated with both bullying victimization and peer perpetration [ 37 – 39 ].…”

Longitudinal alterations in brain morphometry mediated the effects of bullying victimization on cognitive development in preadolescents.

“…Consistent with previous studies, we found that bullied children had poorer reading ( Mundy et al, 2017 , Menken et al, 2022 ) and inhibitory control ( Samper-García et al, 2021 , Poon, 2016 , Menken et al, 2022 ) than non-bullied children. Lacking emotional regulation may worsen the effects of bullying because of its role in adapting to stressful or traumatic events ( Frederick and Le Menestrel, 2016 ).…”

“…The temporal precedence of the variables used was as follows. We calculated the effect of being bullied on cognition, because while several studies have implicated an association between victimization and lower cognitive scores ( Menken et al, 2022 , Poon, 2016 , Samper-García et al, 2021 ), cognition did not influence the likelihood of being bullied ( Miguel and Urzúa, 2015 ). Additionally, a study of social defeat stress in mice showed rodents that were victimized had dendritic atrophy ( Fox et al, 2020 ), which can impact regional brain volume.…”