Abstract
BackgroundThe aim is to examine associations between bullying involvement in adolescence and mental health problems in adulthood.MethodsInformation on bullying-involvement (being bullied, bully–victim, aggressive toward others) and non-involved was collected from 2464 adolescents in Mid-Norway at mean age 13.7 and again at mean age 14.9. Information about mental health problems and psychosocial functioning was collected about 12 years later at mean age 27.2 (n = 1266).ResultsAll groups involved in bullying in young adolescence had adverse mental health outcomes in adulthood compared to non-involved. Those being bullied were affected especially regarding increased total sum of depressive symptoms and high levels of total, internalizing and critical symptoms, increased risk of having received help for mental health problems, and reduced functioning because of a psychiatric problem in adulthood. While those being aggressive toward others showed high levels of total and internalizing symptoms. Both those being bullied and bully–victims showed an increased risk of high levels of critical symptoms. Lastly, all groups involved in bullying on adolescence had increased risk of psychiatric hospitalization because of mental health problems.ConclusionInvolvement in bullying in adolescence is associated with later mental health problems, possibly hindering development into independent adulthood.
Highlights
The aim is to examine associations between bullying involvement in adolescence and mental health problems in adulthood
Attrition analysis The responders at T4 were compared with the nonresponders on gender, parental Socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity and bullying classification assessed at T1/T2
Among the groups involved in bullying the attrition rate for T4 was: being bullied (47.3 %), bully–victim (40.0 %), and aggressive toward others (56.7 %)
Summary
The aim is to examine associations between bullying involvement in adolescence and mental health problems in adulthood. Being involved in bullying is common among adolescents. Prevalence differences are most often attributed to variations in age of participants, time range of Sigurdson et al Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health (2015) 9:42 the educational system to work-life and are expected to begin making a life apart from their parents. We know little about the long-term association between bullying involvement in adolescence and mental health outcomes and broader effects on development into young adulthood. A few studies have indicated troubling associations between bullying involvement and later problems in adulthood [1, 5, 6]. Further prospective longitudinal research on bullying involvement in adolescence and later mental health outcomes is much needed
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