BackgroundBullying is a widespread and serious problem that might influence both mental and psychical well being as well as school performance and social life. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of bullying, mental health problems and psychical complaints among 10th and 12th grade students and to analyze the association between bullying, mental health problems and muscle and skeletal complaints.MethodsTwo cross sectional studies of adolescents living in Oslo, Norway the first conducted in 2001 among 10th grade students (15/16 years old) and the second in 2004 among 12th grade students (18/19 years old). Both surveys were based on self report, were mostly school based and had almost identical questionnaires. There were around 3700 participants in both surveys, but the participation rate was lower in the latter survey (88 versus 80%). The Hopkins Symptoms Check List (HSCL-10) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were used to measure mental health problems.ResultsBullying is decreasing both among boys and girls while the prevalence of internalized mental health problems are increasing from 10th to 12th grade. For muscle and skeletal pain there is a diverging trend between boys and girls, with an increase among girls and a decrease among boys. The highest Odds Ratios, as a measure for the association between bullying, mental health problems and pain, were found for internalized mental health problems at both 10th and 12th grade both for boys and girls.ConclusionBoth internalized and externalized mental health problems together with pain seem to be associated with bullying irrespective of school type and gender.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) are frequently co-occurring psychiatric disorders with symptomatology related to fear of social situations. It is uncertain to what degree the two disorders reflect the same genetic and environmental risk factors. The current study addresses the stability and co-occurrence of SAD and AvPD, the factor structure of the diagnostic criteria, and genetic and environmental factors underlying the disorders at two time points. SAD and AvPD were assessed in 1,761 young adult female twins at baseline and 1,471 of these approximately 10 years later. Biometric models were fitted to dimensional representations of SAD and AvPD. SAD and AvPD were moderately and approximately equally stable from young to middle adulthood, with increasing co-occurrence driven by environmental factors. At the first wave, approximately one in three individuals with AvPD had SAD, increasing to one in two at follow-up. The diagnostic criteria for SAD and AvPD had a two-factor structure with low cross-loadings. The relationship between SAD and AvPD was best accounted for by a model with separate, although highly correlated (r = .76), and highly heritable (.66 and .71) risk factors for each disorder. Their genetic and environmental components correlated .84 and .59, respectively. The finding of partially distinct risk factors indicates qualitative differences in the etiology of SAD and AvPD. Genetic factors represented the strongest time-invariant influences, whereas environmental factors were most important at the specific points in time.

Background: Bullying among adolescents represents a major public health challenge. The aim of this study was to map the stability of bullying victimization across the transitional phase from lower to upper secondary school, and to describe the sociodemographic, academic and health-related characteristics of those bullied during the transition. Method: 3674 Norwegian adolescents were followed longitudinally from the age of 15/16 until the age of 18/19, answering questionnaires about health, academic achievements, life events, lifestyle and sociodemography. The 337 participants reporting exposure to bullying victimization at age 15/16 were the target group, as we made comparisons between those reporting victimization only at the age of 15/16 (n=289) with the participants for whom the bullying had continued into later adolescence (n = 48). Results: 14% of those victimized at age 15/16, reported continuation of bullying victimization into upper secondary school. These adolescents were significantly more likely to report having divorced parents, low parental educational level, poor self-perceived economy, muscle and skeletal pain, symptoms of mental distress, lower school marks in Norwegian and higher body-mass index (BMI) when group differences at age 18/19 were assessed through basic inferential statistical tests. However, the multivariate logistic regression analyses only revealed statistically significantly increased adjusted odds ratios for the variables mental distress and school-marks in Norwegian. Conclusion: The persistence of exposure to bullying from 10th grade to 13th grade is associated with mental health complaints and poor school performance. Preventive measures to take care of students being continuously bullied should be in place in secondary schools.

These findings do not support the hypothesis of abnormal dACC activity during a Go/No-go task in BD II patients.

Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) share risk factors to a substantial degree, and both are characterized by the experience of anxiety in social situations. The authors investigated whether these disorders are differentially related to the Big Five personality traits. They also examined the underlying genetic and environmental influences on these associations. A population-based sample of 1,761 female twins was interviewed at baseline, and 1,471 of these were re-interviewed 10 years later. Associations between AvPD, SAD, and personality traits were investigated with multivariate biometric analyses. The authors found that AvPD and SAD are differentially related to several personality traits at the phenotypic, genetic, and environmental level. The genetic and environmental liability to AvPD could be fully accounted for by the genetic and environmental factors influencing SAD and personality. The findings may increase current etiological understanding of these disorders and inform future classification and treatment efforts.