Abstract
PurposeTo examine whether traditional and cyber bullying victimization were associated with adolescent's mental health problems and suicidal ideation at two-year follow-up. Gender differences were explored to determine whether bullying affects boys and girls differently.MethodsA two-year longitudinal study was conducted among first-year secondary school students (N = 3181). Traditional and cyber bullying victimization were assessed at baseline, whereas mental health status and suicidal ideation were assessed at baseline and follow-up by means of self-report questionnaires. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess associations between these variables while controlling for baseline problems. Additionally, we tested whether gender differences in mental health and suicidal ideation were present for the two types of bullying.ResultsThere was a significant interaction between gender and traditional bullying victimization and between gender and cyber bullying victimization on mental health problems. Among boys, traditional and cyber bullying victimization were not related to mental health problems after controlling for baseline mental health. Among girls, both traditional and cyber bullying victimization were associated with mental health problems after controlling for baseline mental health. No significant interaction between gender and traditional or cyber bullying victimization on suicidal ideation was found. Traditional bullying victimization was associated with suicidal ideation, whereas cyber bullying victimization was not associated with suicidal ideation after controlling for baseline suicidal ideation.ConclusionsTraditional bullying victimization is associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation, whereas traditional, as well as cyber bullying victimization is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems among girls. These findings stress the importance of programs aimed at reducing bullying behavior, especially because early-onset mental health problems may pose a risk for the development of psychiatric disorders in adulthood.
Highlights
Recent studies indicate that approximately 20–35% of adolescents report involvement in traditional, offline bullying either as a bully, a victim or both [1]
The purpose of the current study was to examine whether traditional and cyber bullying victimization were associated with mental health problems and suicidal ideation at two-year followup in a large sample of adolescents
Group differences were found for education, ethnicity, mental health problems, suicidal ideation, and bullying victimization, with the lost–to-follow-up group having a lower education level, more often being of Dutch ethnicity, having more mental health problems, more suicidal ideation, and more often being a traditional and cyber bullying victim than the adolescents who participated at follow-up
Summary
Recent studies indicate that approximately 20–35% of adolescents report involvement in traditional, offline bullying either as a bully, a victim or both [1]. Recent cross-sectional studies have shown an association between cyber bullying victimization and mental health problems, and even between cyber bullying victimization and suicide [4,6,8,9]. Despite evidence from these cross-sectional studies, little is known with regard to the longitudinal impact of cyber bullying. To the best of our knowledge, only SchultzeKrumbholz et al studied the longitudinal association between cyber bullying victimization and mental health problems in a relatively small sample (N = 233). They only showed a significant association between cyber bullying victimization and mental health problems in girls, not in boys [10]
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