Involvement in bullying and depression in a 2-year follow-up in middle adolescence

Abstract

The main objective was to analyse whether involvement in bullying at school predicts depression, and whether depression predicts involvement in bullying in middle adolescence. A total of 2,070 15-year-old girls and boys in two Finnish cities were surveyed at ninth grade (age 15) at schools, and followed up 2 years later in the Adolescent Mental Health Cohort Study (AMHC). Depression was measured by a Finnish modification of the 13-item short Beck Depression Inventory. Involvement in bullying was elicited by three questions focusing on being a bully, being a victim to bullying, and being left alone by peers against one's wishes. Similar questions were posed at both time points. Statistical analyses were carried out using cross-tabulations with chi-square/Fisher's Exact Test statistics, and logistic regression. The results summarized that, both being a victim to bullying and being a bully predicted later depression among boys. Among girls, depression at T1 predicted victimisation at T2. Depression at T1 predicted experience of being left alone at T2 among both sexes. It was concluded that victimisation to bullying may be a traumatising event that results in depression. However, depression also predicts experience of victimisation and of being left alone against one's wishes. Depression may impair an adolescent's social skills and self-esteem so that the adolescent becomes victimised by peers. However, depression may also distort and adolescent's experiences of social interactions.

Peer Victimization in Childhood and Internalizing Problems in Adolescence: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

“…This is consistent across most previous studies that found unique associations between victimization and non-clinical outcomes after adjusting for prior adjustment problems (Arseneault et al 2006;Kaltiala-Heino et al 2010;Schreier et al 2009;Sugden et al 2010). …”

“…Conversely, internalizing problems may not just be the consequences but also, although weak, the antecedents of victimization (r=.08) -a reciprocal influence, which may lead to a vicious circle (Kaltiala-Heino et al 2010;Sweeting et al 2006). This further illustrates the importance of controlling for internalizing symptoms which predate the onset of victimization in study designs.…”

“…If the former is found general prevention efforts would be required to reduce depression (Rose 1981). Fourthly, only a handful of studies (Kaltiala-Heino et al 2010;Sweeting et al 2006) have re-examined the same depression outcome over time, a method which would allow the investigation of the impact of peer victimization on symptom persistence. Finally, most existing studies were school based rather than general population based; hence were not able to control for mental health problems prior to school age.…”

Childhood trajectories of peer victimization and prediction of mental health outcomes in midadolescence: a longitudinal population-based study

“…Adolescents who were severely victimized showed an increased risk of severe symptoms of certain mental health problems. Compared with other studies that have relied on victimization and exposure to bullying assessed at a single point in time, 8,[31][32][33] our trajectory analyses have the advantage of identifying patterns of victimization varying in severity and over time, highlighting a general decline in victimization with age.…”

Long-Term Effects of Bullying

“…[31][32][33][34][35][36] Psychotic experiences Being bullied increased the risk of psychotic experiences. Also a dose-response relationship was found where stronger associations were identified with increased frequency, severity and duration of being bullied.…”