Abstract
Bullying involves repeated exposure to negative actions while also invoking a power asymmetry between the involved parties. From a stress perspective, being bullied can be seen as a severe and chronic stressor, and an everyday social-evaluative threat, coupled with a shortage of effective social resources for dealing with this particular stressor. The aim of this study was to investigate whether exposure to bullying among mid-adolescent girls and boys is associated with subjective and objective stress-related outcomes in terms of perceived stress, recurrent pain, and salivary cortisol. The data came from the School Stress and Support Study (TriSSS) including students in grades 8–9 in two schools in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2010 (study sample n = 392; cortisol subsample n = 198). Bullying was self-reported and measured by multiple items. The statistical analyses included binary logistic and linear (OLS) regression. Being bullied was associated with greater perceived stress and an increased risk of recurrent pain, among both boys and girls. Also, bullied students had lower cortisol output (AUCG) and lower cortisol awakening response (CARG) as compared to those who were not bullied. Gender-stratified analyses demonstrated that these associations were statistically significant for boys but not for girls. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that being bullied was related to both subjective and objective stress markers among mid-adolescent girls and boys, pointing to the necessity of continuously working against bullying.
Highlights
Bullying has been recognized as a central stressor in the lives of school-aged children [1]
Being exposed to bullying was clearly associated with an increased risk of perceived stress in terms of global stress (OR = 3.06, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) 1.55, 6.03), pressure (b = 0.40, 95% CI 0.19, 0.62) and activation (b = 0.37, 95% CI 0.13, 0.62), as well as recurrent pain (OR = 3.39, 95% CI 1.62, 7.09)
The present study investigated associations between exposure to bullying and a range of stress-related measures among mid-adolescent girls and boys, with the main contribution being the inclusion of both self-reports of stress and physiological outcomes in terms of cortisol output
Summary
Bullying has been recognized as a central stressor in the lives of school-aged children [1]. It is commonly defined as the repeated exposure to negative actions involving a power imbalance between a perpetrator(s) and a victim. The negative actions can be direct physical or verbal, such as hitting or teasing, and indirect, such as social exclusion [2,3]. It is not surprising that exposure to school bullying serves as a source of substantial stress, especially during the teenage period when peer relations become increasingly important. Apart from being a threat to actual and perceived safety, bullying constitutes a social-evaluative threat
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