Bullying Victimization and Adolescent Self-Harm: Testing Hypotheses from General Strain Theory

Abstract

Self-harm is widely recognized as a significant adolescent social problem, and recent research has begun to explore its etiology. Drawing from Agnew's (1992) social psychological strain theory of deviance, this study considers this issue by testing three hypotheses about the effects of traditional and cyber bullying victimization on deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation. The data come from a school-based survey of adolescents in a rural county of a southeastern state (n = 426); 50% of subjects are female, their mean age was 15 years, and non-Hispanic whites represent 66% of the sample. The analysis revealed that both types of bullying are positively related to self-harm and suicidal ideation, net of controls. Moreover, those relationships are partially mediated by the negative emotions experienced by those who are bullied and partially moderated by features of the adolescent's social environment and self. Regarding the latter, exposure to authoritative parenting and high self-control diminished the harmful effects of bullying victimization on self-harm and suicidal ideation. The article concludes by discussing the implications of these conclusions for future research and for policy efforts designed to reduce self-harm.

The mediating effect of depressive symptoms on the relationship between bullying victimization and non-suicidal self-injury among adolescents: Findings from community and inpatient mental health settings in Ontario, Canada

“…This finding corroborates emerging past studies that relied on student samples and have found that bullying victimization has an important relationship with not only aggression directed towards others but also with aggression directed towards oneself Hay and Meldrum, 2010). Our findings add to the extant literature and underscore the harmful effect of bullying (Finkelhor et al, 2005;Storch and Ledley, 2005).…”

“…Various studies (Rothon et al, 2012;Smokowski and Bacallao, 2007) and systematic reviews (Bigby, 2012;Jennings et al, 2014) have documented the positive effect of social support in enhancing mental health and well-being of adolescents. Hay and Meldrum (2010) found that a combination of social support and self-control provides adolescents with the ability to deliberate on their stressful life situation and avoid taking actions that might be deleterious to their mental health and well-being. Efforts aimed at preventing NSSI should first identify and reduce risk factors for NSSI while at the same time identifying and increasing factors found to be associated with a diminished likelihood of engaging in NSSI.…”

“…In a series of multiple regressions, the authors found that bullying victimization was positively related to NSSI. This relationship was partially mediated by negative emotions among those who were victims of bullying (Hay and Meldrum, 2010). Another study by Claes et al (2015) that utilized data from high school students from Belgium and the Netherlands found that the relationship between bullying victimization and NSSI was partially mediated by depressive symptoms.…”

“…The relatively few studies on the topic are are from non-clinical settings where the rate of depression and mental health problems are not as high as they are in clinical settings (Roelofs et al, 2010). A study by Hay and Meldrum (2010) examined the effect of bullying victimization on adolescent NSSI behavior using data on 426 students from selected schools in Southeastern US. In a series of multiple regressions, the authors found that bullying victimization was positively related to NSSI.…”

Bullying and associated factors in adolescents aged 11 to 15 years

“…4 Nevertheless, bullying is still poorly understood and is characterized by some degree of permissiveness and indifference in the school environment, with little attention paid to the negative consequences that can later contribute to the development of antisocial conducts. 5 Authors have described the impact of bullying on the physical and psychological health of victims, reporting increased rates of mental disorders, 6 self-mutilation, 7 suicidal ideation, 7 and substance use/abuse 8 in this population. There is evidence that adolescent bullying may affect quality of life, posing physical and emotional difficulties not only to victims but also to perpetrators.…”