Adolescents who experienced severe bullying by their peers earlier in childhood may be more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts than teens who weren’t routinely victimized by other kids, a Canadian study suggests.
Researchers examined data on 1,363 children who were surveyed about peer victimisation and bullying from ages 6 to 13 and monitored for any mental health issues through age 15. Most participants experienced little or no victimisation, but about 26% reported some bullying and almost 15 percent said they suffered severe, long-lasting victimisation.
Compared to teens who experienced little or no bullying as kids, adolescents who suffered chronic tormenting by their peers were more than twice as likely to be depressed and more than three times more likely to be anxious or seriously consider suicide, the study found.
“We found that exposure to peer victimisation decreases by the end of childhood,” said lead study author Marie-Claude Geoffroy, a psychiatry researcher at McGill University in Montreal.
“However, the 15% of adolescents exposed to the most severe levels of victimisation when they entered kindergarten were still exposed to the highest levels in high school,” Geoffroy said by e-mail.
All of the kids in the study were born in Quebec in 1997 and 1998.
Researchers assessed peer victimisation based on questionnaires kids completed to detail physical and verbal abuse as well as online bullying. These surveys, done in the second half of the school year, asked kids to detail how often they experienced any victimisation since the start of school.
At age 15, researchers asked teens about the frequency of depression, anxiety, social problems, conduct issues or behaviour challenges in the previous 12 months.
Overall, about 7% of the teens exposed to little or no victimisation as kids had depression, compared with almost 18% of adolescents who had suffered severe bullying by their peers, researchers report in CMAJ.
At the same time, 7% of teens with little or no exposure to bullying had general anxiety, compared with 20% of youth who had been constantly victimised by their peers.
Adolescents who were chronically bullied as kids were also much more likely to experience social anxiety, eating problems, conduct issues and behavior challenges, the study found.
About 3% of teens who had little previous exposure to bullying had suicidal thoughts, compared to 13% of teens who had suffered from routine peer victimisation growing up.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how peer victimisation early in childhood might influence mental health in adolescence. Another limitation is that researchers relied on kids to accurately recall and report on any mental health problems or experiences with victimisation.
Still, the findings add to the body of evidence already linking bullying and peer victimisation to future mental health problems, said Dieter Wolke, a psychology researcher at the University of Warwick in the UK who wasn’t involved in the study.
“One of the most painful feelings is to be socially rejected, ridiculed, beaten and embarrassed by other classmates,” Wolke said by e-mail. “If this continues chronically, it not only increases anxiety of social contacts, it leads to defeat and internalisation that one is useless, worthless, incapable, not worth loving.”
The study results underscore the need for teachers, parents and other adults involved in kids’ lives to intervene early to stop any events of victimisation from turning into a routine problem, said Bonnie Leadbeater, a psychology researcher at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada who wasn’t involved in the study.
“Without adult help, victimisation can be chronic,” Leadbeater said by e-mail. “Anxiety and depression can also worsen victimisation, catching children in a cycle of abuse and mental illness.”
To avoid this, parents should ask kids about bullying, and let them know that if they experience this, they aren’t alone, said Dr Matthew Davis of the Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
“If your children are being bullied, focus on supporting their sense of self-worth, to help nurture their self-esteem despite bullying,” Davis said by e-mail.
