Scimex: Bullying in teenage years is strongly associated with depression later
on in life, reports UK researchers. They say almost 15 per cent of teens
who reported being bullied more than once a week at age 13 were found
to be depressed at the age of 18. An accompanying editorial says the
results of the study indicate that more work needs to be done to protect
vulnerable young people.
Bullying in teenage years is strongly associated with depression
later on in life, suggests new research published in The BMJ this week.
Depression
is a major public health problem with high economic and societal costs.
There is a rapid increase in depression from childhood to adulthood and
one contributing factor could be bullying by peers. But the link
between bullying at school and depression in adulthood is still unclear
due to limitations in previous research.
So a team of scientists,
led by Lucy Bowes at the University of Oxford, carried out one of the
largest studies on the association between bullying by peers in teenage
years and depression in early adulthood.
They undertook a
longitudinal observational study that examined the relationship between
bullying at 13 years and depression at 18 years.
They analysed
bullying and depression data on 3,898 participants in the Avon
Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a UK community
based birth cohort.
The participants completed a self-report
questionnaire at 13 years about bullying and at 18 years completed an
assessment that identified individuals who met internationally agreed
criteria for depressive illness.
Of the 683 teenagers who reported
frequent bullying at more than once a week at 13 years, 14.8% were
depressed at 18 years. And of the 1446 teenagers who had some bullying
of 1-3 times over six months at 13 years, 7.1% were depressed at 18
years.
Only 5.5% of teenagers who did not experience bullying were depressed at 18 years.
Around
10.1% of frequently bullied teenagers experienced depression for more
than two years, compared with 4.1% from the non-bullied group.
Overall,
2668 participants had data on bullying and depression as well as other
factors that may have caused depression such as previous bullying in
childhood, mental and behavioral problems, family set up and stressful
life events.
When these factors were taken into account,
frequently bullied teenagers still had around a twofold increase in odds
of depression compared with those who did not experience bullying. This
association was the same for both males and females.
The most common type of bullying was name calling - 36% experienced this, while 23% had belongings taken.
Most
teenagers never told a teacher (41%-74%) or a parent (24%-51%), but up
to 75% told an adult about physical bullying such as being hit or beaten
up.
If this were a causal relationship up to 30% of depression in
early adulthood could be attributable to bullying in teenage years,
explain the authors, adding that bullying could make a substantial
contribution to the overall burden of depression.
While this is an
observational study and no definitive conclusions can be drawn about
cause and effect, they say that interventions to reduce bullying in
schools could reduce depression in later life.
In an accompanying
editorial, Maria M Ttofi from the University of Cambridge writes that
this study has clear anti bullying messages that should be endorsed by
parents, schools and practitioners. She also calls for more research to
establish the causal links between bullying and depression, and to drive
specific interventions to reduce victimisation.