Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:15:34.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Victims of bullying in childhood and suicide attempts in adulthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

H. Meltzer ,
P. Vostanis ,
T. Ford ,
P Bebbington  and
M.S. Dennis
H. Meltzer*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, 22-28, Princess Road West, LeicesterLE1 6TP, United Kingdom
P. Vostanis
Affiliation:
Greenwood Institute of Child Health, Westcotes House, Westcotes Drive, Leicester, LE3 0QU, United Kingdom
T. Ford
Affiliation:
MRC Clinician Scientist, Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter, ExeterEX1 2LU, United Kingdom
P Bebbington
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health Sciences, 2nd Floor, Charles Bell House, 67-73, Riding House Street, LondonW1W 7EJ, United Kingdom
M.S. Dennis
Affiliation:
The School of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, SwanseaSA2 8PP, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 116 252 3209; fax: +44 116 252 3272. E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Meltzer).
Get access

Abstract

Purpose

To examine whether self-reported exposure to bullying during childhood is associated with suicide attempts over the life course, and if so, what mechanisms could account for this relationship.

Subjects and methods

A random probability sample comprising 7461 respondents was interviewed for the 2007 survey of psychiatric morbidity of adults in Great Britain. Survey respondents were asked about suicidal attempts and whether they were bullied in childhood.

Results

Recall of being bullied in childhood decreased with age from 25% of 16–24-year-olds to 4% among those 75 or over with few differences in the proportions between men and women. Bullying co-occurred with several victimisation experiences including sexual abuse and severe beatings and with running away from home. Even after controlling for lifetime factors known to increase the risk of suicidal behaviour, adults who reported bullying in childhood were still more than twice as likely as other adults to attempt suicide later in life.

Discussion

Being the victim of bullying involves the experience of suffering a defeat and humiliation that in turn could lead to entrapment, hopelessness, depression and suicidal behaviour.

Conclusions

Bullying is already known to be associated with substantial distress and other negative consequences and this further evidence of a strong correlation with the risk of suicide in later life should increase further the motivation of society, services and citizens to act decisively to reduce bullying in childhood.

Keywords

SuicideEpidemiologyBullying
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 26 , Issue 8 , November 2011 , pp. 498 - 503
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Analitis, F, Velderman, MK, Ravens-Sieberer, U, Detmar, S, Erhart, M, Herdman, M, et al.Being bullied associated factors in children and adolescents 8 to 18 years old in 11 European countries. Pediatrics 2009;123(2):569–577.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anguelova, M, Benkelfat, C, Tureki, GA systematic review of association studies investigating genes coding for serotonin receptors and the serotonin transporter, II: suicidal behaviour. Mol Psychiatry 2003; 8: 646–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arango, V, Huang, Y, Underwood, M, Mann, JGenetics of the serotinergic system in suicidal behaviour. J Psychiatr Res 2003; 37: 375–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldry, AC. Bullying in schools and exposure to domestic violence. Child Abuse Negl 2003;27(7)::713–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, ED, Arseneault, L, Brendgen, M, Fontaine, N, Maughan, B. Joint development of bullying and victimization in adolescence: relations to delinquency and self-harm. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2008;47(9)::1030–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Blood, GW, Blood, IMPreliminary study of self-reported experience of physical aggression and bullying of boys who stutter: relation to increased anxiety. Percept Mot Skills 2007; 104: 1060–1066.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chamberlain, T, George, N, Golden, S. Walker, F, Benton. Tellus4 National Report, Research Report, DCSF-RR218, National Foundation for Educational Research; 2010.Google Scholar
de Decker, A, Hermans, D, Raes, F, Eelen, PAutobiographical memory specificity and trauma in inpatient adolescents. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 2003; 32: 22–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Leeuw, ED, de Heer, W. Trends in household survey non-response: a longitudinal and international comparison. Survey Non-response. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons; 2002. p. 44–51.Google Scholar
de Winter, AF, Oldehinkel, AJ, Veenstra, R, Brunnekreef, JA, Verhulst, FC, Ormel, J. Evaluation of non-response bias in mental health determinants and outcomes in a large sample of pre-adolescents. Eur J Epidemiol 2005;20(2)::173–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, SK, Perry, DGDoes low self regard invite victimisation. Dev Psychol 1998; 34: 299–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, B, McGeary, J, Beevers, C, Miller, ISerotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) genotype, childhood abuse, and suicide attempts in adult psychiatric inpatients. Suicide Life Threat Behav 2006; 36: 687–693.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, R, Willner, PSelf-report measures of defeat and entrapment during brief depressive mood induction. Cogn Emot 2002; 16: 629–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermans, D, Van den Broeck, K, Belis, G, Raes, F, Pieters, G, Eelen, PTrauma and autobiographical memory specificity in depressed inpatients. Behav Res Ther 2004; 42: 775–789.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, R, Meltzer, H, Bebbington, P, Brugha, T, Farrell, M, McManus, S, et al. The British Mental Health Survey Programme: achievements and latest findings. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2009;44:899–904[doi:10.1007/s00127-009-0112-7].CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jollant, F, Buresi, C, Guillaume, S, Jaussent, I, Bellivier, F, Leboyer, M, et al.The influence of four serotonin-related genes on decision-making in suicide attempters. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2007; 144B: 615–624.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, YS, Leventhal, BBullying and suicide: a review. Int J Adolesc Med Health 2008;20(2):133–154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kish, L. Survey Sampling. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc; 1965.Google Scholar
Klomek, AB, Sourander, A, Niemelä S, Kumpulainen, K, Piha, J, Tamminen, T, Almqvist, F, Gould, MS. Childhood bullying behaviors as a risk for suicide attempts and completed suicides: a population-based birth cohort study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2009;48(3)::254–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Korkeila, K, Suominen, S, Ahvenainen, J, Ojanlatva, A, Rautava, P, Helenius, H, et al.Non-response and related factors in a nation-wide health survey. Eur J Epidemiol 2001;17(11):983–1057.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumpulainen, KPsychiatric conditions associated with bullying. Int J Adolesc Med Health 2008;20(2):121–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kumpulainen, K, Räsänen, E, Hentonen, I, Almqvist, F, Kresaniv, K, Linna, S-L., et al.Bullying and psychiatric symptoms among elementary school-age children. Child Abuse Negl 1998; 22: 705–717.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewis, G, Pelosi, AJ, Araya, R, Dunn, GMeasuring psychiatric disorder in the community: a standardised assessment for use by lay interviewers. Psychol Med 1992; 22: 465–486.Google Scholar
Lien, L, Green, K, Welander-Vatn, A, Bjertness, E. Mental and somatic health complaints associated with school bullying between 10th and 12th grade students; results from cross-sectional studies in Oslo Norway Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health 2009;23:5–6.Google Scholar
McManus, S, Meltzer, H, Brugha, T, Bebbington, P, Jenkins, R. Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, 2007: results of a household survey. London: National Centre for Social Research; 2009.Google Scholar
Olweus, DAnnotation: bullying at school: basic facts and effects of a school based intervention program. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 1994; 35: 1171–1190.Google Scholar
Paykel, ES, Myers, JK, Lindenthal, JJ, Tanner, JSuicidal feelings in the general population: a prevalence study. Br J Psychiatry 1974; 124: 460–469.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollock, L, Williams, JEffective problem solving in suicide attempters depends on specific autobiographical recall. Suicide Life Threat Behav 2001; 31: 386–396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preacher, KJ, Hayes, AFSPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behav Res Methods Instrum Comput 2004; 36: 717–731.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reiter, S, Lapido-Lefler, NBullying among special education students with intellectual disabilities: differences in social adjustment and social skills. J Intellect Dev Disabil 2007; 45: 174–181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rigby, K, Slee, PInterventions to reduce bullying. Int J Adolesc Med Health 2008;20(2):165–183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, SVictimization of obese children. J Sch Nurs 2006; 22: 201–206.Google Scholar
Salmons, PH, Harrington, RSuicidal ideation in university students and other groups. Int J Soc Psychiatry 1984; 30: 201–205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shields, A, Cinchetti, DParental maltreatment and emotional dysregulation as risk factors for bullying and victimization in middle childhood. J Clin Child Psychol 2001;30(3):246–263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sidley, G, Whitaker, K, Calam, R, Wells, AThe relationship between problem-solving and autobiographical memory in parasuicide patients. Behav Cogn Psychother 1997; 25: 195–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinclair, J, Crane, C, Hawton, K, Williams, JThe role of autobiographical memory specificity in deliberate self-harm: correlates and consequences. J Affect Disord 2007; 102: 11–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, PK, Monks, CPConcepts of bullying: developmental and cultural aspects. Int J Adolesc Med Health 2008;20(2):101–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sourander, A, Ronning, J, Brunstein-Klomek, A, Gyllenberg, D, Kumpulainen, K, Niemela, S, et al.Childhood bullying behaviour and later psychiatric hospital and psychopharmacologic treatment. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2009;66(9):1005–1012.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Srabstein, JDealths linked to bullying and hazing. Int J Adolesc Med Health 2008;20(2):235–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J, Crane, C, Barnhofer, T, Duggan, DPsychology and suicidal behaviour: elaborating the entrapment model. Hawton, KPrevention and treatment of suicidal behaviour Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2005.71–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.