Bullying Involvement among Children Receiving Clinical Care: Links to Mental Health Indicators, Individual Strengths, and Parenting Challenges

Abstract

Bullying has harmful effects on mental health, and it is particularly toxic to children already struggling with mental health challenges. We explored mental health indicators in children, their individual strengths, and challenges in parenting in relation to children’s bullying involvement, assessed through parent and clinician reports. Results of our study involving 91 children (ages 4–11 years) receiving services at a children’s mental health agency indicated significant differences on dependent variables across four different bullying involvement groups: bully, victim, bully-victim, and non-involved. Results indicated children in our clinical sample were involved in school bullying at much higher rates and many more were involved as bully-victims than what is observed in community samples. Children in the bully-victim group were assessed as having the highest level of externalizing behavior and their parents as having the most challenges. Victims presented the highest level of internalizing problems, and non-involved children were assessed as having higher individual strengths than all children that were involved in bullying. Findings suggest that children’s mental health service providers should routinely screen for bullying problems, and interventions targeting bullying involvement and its consequences should be part of mental health care for these children.