The relationship between difficulties in psychological adjustment in young adulthood and exposure to bullying behaviour in childhood and adolescence

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between involvement in bullying in childhood and adolescence and psychological difficulties in young adulthood. A total of 249 college students completed the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire and Trauma Symptom Checklist. The results showed significant differences in psychological adjustment among respondents who were exposed to bullying compared to respondents who were not exposed to bullying. Those exposed to bullying had significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression, sleeping problems, and dissociative and traumatic symptoms compared to those who were not exposed to bullying. Respondents who were exposed to bullying in all three examined periods (the period from the first to fourth grade, the period from the fifth to eighth grade and the high school period) had higher scores on the subscale of dissociative symptoms and sexual trauma symptoms compared to respondents who were exposed through one or two periods. Victims abused in all three periods have more symptoms of anxiety and sleeping problems compared to the subjects exposed to bullying during one examination period. There were no differences in the level of depressive symptoms and sexual problems regarding the duration of bullying. Also, there were no differences in psychological adjustment between respondents who were bullied during one specific period. Bullying experiences in childhood and adolescence are connected with difficulties in psychological adjustment in young adulthood.