Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-xtvcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-16T21:27:26.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bullying victimization in adolescence and psychotic symptomatology in adulthood: evidence from a 35-year study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2016

J. M. Boden ,
S. van Stockum ,
L. J. Horwood  and
D. M. Fergusson
J. M. Boden*
Affiliation:
Christchurch Health and Development Study, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand
S. van Stockum
Affiliation:
Te Whare Tipu, Capital and Coast District Health Board, Wellington, New Zealand
L. J. Horwood
Affiliation:
Christchurch Health and Development Study, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand
D. M. Fergusson
Affiliation:
Christchurch Health and Development Study, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand
*
*Address for correspondence: J. M. Boden, Ph.D., Christchurch Health and Development Study, University of Otago, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, PO Box 4345, Christchurch, New Zealand. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

There has been considerable recent interest in possible causal linkages between exposure to bullying victimization and later psychotic symptomatology. Prior research in this area has had several limitations which make it difficult to ascertain causality, and to determine the extent to which these effects extend beyond adolescence.

Method

Data were obtained from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a 35-year study of a longitudinal birth cohort. This investigation used generalized estimating equation modelling to estimate the associations between bullying victimization (ages 13–16 years) and psychotic symptoms (ages 18–35 years), before and after controlling for possible confounding factors, including: gender; childhood socio-economic status; child intelligence quotient; exposure to sexual abuse in childhood; anxious/withdrawn behaviour and attention problems (ages 7–9 years); and adolescent psychotic symptoms and paranoid ideation (ages 15–16 years).

Results

There was a significant (p < 0.0001) bivariate association between bullying victimization in adolescence and psychotic symptomatology in adulthood. Successive models controlling for covariation reduced this association to statistical non-significance. After controlling for covariates, those with the highest level of bullying victimization had rates of psychotic symptoms that were 1.21 (95% confidence interval 0.73–1.99) times higher than those who were not victimized.

Conclusions

The association between bullying victimization in adolescence and psychotic symptomatology in adulthood could be largely explained by childhood behavioural problems, and exposure to sexual abuse in childhood. The results suggest that bullying victimization was unlikely to have been a cause of adult psychotic symptoms, but bullying victimization remained a risk marker for these symptoms.

Keywords

Bullying victimizationlongitudinal studiespsychotic symptoms
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 46 , Issue 6 , April 2016 , pp. 1311 - 1320
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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

Arseneault, L, Cannon, M, Fisher, HL, Polanczyk, G, Moffitt, TE, Caspi, A (2011). Childhood trauma and children's emerging psychotic symptoms: a genetically sensitive longitudinal cohort study. American Journal of Psychiatry 168, 65–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bratlien, U, Øie, M, Haug, E, Møller, P, Andreassen, OA, Lien, L, Melle, I (2014). Environmental factors during adolescence associated with later development of psychotic disorders – a nested case–control study. Psychiatry Research 215, 579–585.Google Scholar
Carlin, JB, Wolfe, R, Coffey, C, Patton, GC (1999). Tutorial in biostatistics. Analysis of binary outcomes in longitudinal studies using weighted estimating equations and discrete-time survival methods: prevalence and incidence of smoking in an adolescent cohort. Statistics in Medicine 18, 2655–2679.Google Scholar
Conners, CK (1969). A teacher rating scale for use in drug studies with children. American Journal of Psychiatry 126, 884–888.Google Scholar
Conners, CK (1970). Symptom patterns in hyperkinetic, neurotic and normal children. Child Development 41, 667–682.Google Scholar
Cunningham, T, Hoy, K, Shannon, C (2015). Does childhood bullying lead to the development of psychotic symptoms? A meta-analysis and review of prospective studies. Psychosis: Psychological, Social and Integrative Approaches. Published online 13 July 2015. doi:10.1080/17522439.2015.1053969.Google Scholar
De Loore, E, Drukker, M, Gunther, N, Feron, F, Deboutte, D, Sabbe, B, Mengelers, R, Van Os, J, Myin-Germeys, I (2007). Childhood negative experiences and subclinical psychosis in adolescence: a longitudinal general population study. Early Intervention in Psychiatry 1, 201–207.Google Scholar
Derogatis, LR, Lipman, RS, Covi, L (1973). SCL-90: an outpatient psychiatric rating scale: preliminary report. Psychopharmacology Bulletin 9, 13–27.Google Scholar
Dutta, R, Greene, T, Addington, J, McKenzie, K, Phillips, M, Murray, RM (2007). Biological, life course, and cross-cultural studies all point toward the value of dimensional and developmental ratings in the classification of psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin 33, 868–876.Google Scholar
Elley, WR, Irving, JC (1976). Revised socio-economic index for New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 11, 25–36.Google Scholar
Fergusson, DM, Horwood, LJ (1993). The structure, stability and correlations of the trait components of conduct disorder, attention deficit and anxiety/withdrawal reports. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 34, 749–766.Google Scholar
Fergusson, DM, Horwood, LJ (2001). The Christchurch Health and Development Study: review of findings on child and adolescent mental health. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 35, 287–296.Google Scholar
Fergusson, DM, Horwood, LJ, Lloyd, M (1991). Confirmatory factor models of attention deficit and conduct disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 32, 257–274.Google Scholar
Fergusson, DM, Horwood, LJ, Lynskey, MT (1996 a). Childhood sexual abuse and psychiatric disorder in young adulthood: II. Psychiatric outcomes of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 35, 1365–1374.Google Scholar
Fergusson, DM, Horwood, LJ, Shannon, FT, Lawton, JM (1989). The Christchurch Child Development Study: a review of epidemiological findings. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 3, 278–301.Google Scholar
Fergusson, DM, Horwood, LJ, Swain-Campbell, NR (2003). Cannabis dependence and psychotic symptoms in young people. Psychological Medicine 33, 15–21.Google Scholar
Fergusson, DM, Lynskey, MT, Horwood, LJ (1996 b). Childhood sexual abuse and psychiatric disorder in young adulthood: I. Prevalence of sexual abuse and factors associated with sexual abuse. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 35, 1355–1364.Google Scholar
Gini, G, Pozzoli, T (2009). Association between bullying and psychosomatic problems: a meta-analysis. Pediatrics 123, 1059–1065.Google Scholar
Glod, CA (1993). Long-term consequences of childhood physical and sexual abuse. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 7, 163–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hougaard, P, Lee, ML, Whitmore, GA (1997). Analysis of overdispersed count data by mixtures of Poisson variables and Poisson processes. Biometrics 53, 1225–1238.Google Scholar
Jones, LM, Mitchell, KJ, Finkelhor, D (2013). Online harassment in context: trends from three Youth Internet Safety Surveys (2000, 2005, 2010). Psychology of Violence 3, 53–69.Google Scholar
Kelleher, I, Keeley, H, Corcoran, P, Ramsay, H, Wasserman, C, Carli, V, Sarchiapone, M, Hoven, C, Wasserman, D, Cannon, M (2013). Childhood trauma and psychosis in a prospective cohort study: cause, effect, and directionality. American Journal of Psychiatry 170, 734–741.Google Scholar
Lereya, ST, Copeland, WE, Costello, EJ, Wolke, D (2015). Adult mental health consequences of peer bullying and maltreatment in childhood: two cohorts in two countries. Lancet Psychiatry 2, 524–531.Google Scholar
Liang, KY, Zeger, SL (1986). Longitudinal data analysis using generalized linear models. Biometrika 73, 13–22.Google Scholar
Mackie, CJ, Castellanos-Ryan, N, Conrod, PJ (2011). Developmental trajectories of psychotic-like experiences across adolescence: impact of victimization and substance use. Psychological Medicine 41, 47–58.Google Scholar
Mackie, CJ, O'Leary-Barrett, M, Al-Khudhairy, N, Castellanos-Ryan, N, Struve, M, Topper, L, Conrod, P (2013). Adolescent bullying, cannabis use and emerging psychotic experiences: a longitudinal general population study. Psychological Medicine 43, 1033–1044.Google Scholar
Rigby, K, Slee, P (2008). Interventions to reduce bullying. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health 20, 165–183.Google Scholar
Robins, LN, Cottler, L, Bucholz, K, Compton, W (1995). Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-IV. Washington University Press: St Louis, MO.Google Scholar
Rutter, M, Tizard, J, Whitmore, K (1970). Education, Health and Behaviour. Longmans: London.Google Scholar
Sacco, ML, Farber, BA (1999). Reality testing in adult women who report childhood sexual and physical abuse. Child Abuse and Neglect 23, 1193–1203.Google Scholar
Sourander, A, Jensen, P, Rönning, JA, Niemelä, S, Helenius, H, Sillanmäki, L, Kumpulainen, K, Piha, J, Tamminen, T, Moilanen, I, Almqvist, F (2007). What is the early adulthood outcome of boys who bully or are bullied in childhood? The Finnish ‘From a Boy to a Man’ study. Pediatrics 120, 397–404.Google Scholar
Stapinski, LA, Bowes, L, Wolke, D, Pearson, RM, Mahedy, L, Button, KS, Lewis, G, Araya, R (2014). Peer victimization during adolescence and risk for anxiety disorders in adulthood: a prospective cohort study. Depression and Anxiety 31, 574–582.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
StataCorp (2011). Stata Statistical Software: Release 12.0. Stata Corporation: College Station, TX.Google Scholar
van Dam, DS, van der Ven, E, Velthorst, E, Selten, JP, Morgan, C, de Haan, L (2012). Childhood bullying and the association with psychosis in non-clinical and clinical samples: a review and meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine 42, 2463–2474.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D (1974). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: Revised. The Psychological Corporation: New York.Google Scholar
Young, MS, Harford, KL, Kinder, B, Savell, JK (2007). The relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adult mental health among undergraduates: victim gender doesn't matter. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 22, 1315–1331.Google Scholar
Zeger, SL, Liang, K-Y (1986). Longitudinal data analysis for discrete and continuous outcomes. Biometrics 42, 121–130.Google Scholar