Dataset Information

Does bullying cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:To establish the relation between recurrent peer victimisation and onset of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in the early teen years. DESIGN:Cohort study over two years. SETTING:Secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS:2680 students surveyed twice in year 8 (aged 13 years) and once in year 9. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression were assessed by using the computerised version of the revised clinical interview schedule. Incident cases were students scoring >/=12 in year 9 but not previously. Prior victimisation was defined as having been bullied at either or both survey times in year 8. RESULTS:Prevalence of victimisation at the second survey point in year 8 was 51% (95% confidence interval 49% to 54%), and prevalence of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression was 18% (16% to 20%). The incidence of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in year 9 (7%) was significantly associated with victimisation reported either once (odds ratio 1.94, 1.1 to 3.3) or twice (2.30, 1.2 to 4.3) in year 8. After adjustment for availability of social relations and for sociodemographic factors, recurrent victimisation remained predictive of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression for girls (2.60, 1.2 to 5.5) but not for boys (1.36, 0.6 to 3.0). Newly reported victimisation in year 9 was not significantly associated with prior self report of symptoms of anxiety or depression (1.48, 0.4 to 6.0). CONCLUSION:A history of victimisation and poor social relationships predicts the onset of emotional problems in adolescents. Previous recurrent emotional problems are not significantly related to future victimisation. These findings have implications for how seriously the occurrence of victimisation is treated and for the focus of interventions aimed at addressing mental health issues in adolescents.

SUBMITTER: Bond L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC48131 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Does bullying cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers.

Bond L L Carlin J B JB Thomas L L Rubin K K Patton G G

BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 20010901 7311

<h4>Objectives</h4>To establish the relation between recurrent peer victimisation and onset of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in the early teen years.<h4>Design</h4>Cohort study over two years.<h4>Setting</h4>Secondary schools in Victoria, Australia.<h4>Participants</h4>2680 students surveyed twice in year 8 (aged 13 years) and once in year 9.<h4>Main outcome measures</h4>Self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression were assessed by using the computerised version of the revis ...[more]

PMID: 11532838

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundAn individual's overall burden of behavioural and emotional problems across childhood is associated with increased likelihood of later mental health conditions. However, the relative extent of behavioural versus emotional problems - that is, the extent to which the domains are differentiated from one another - may provide additional information about who is at risk of developing a mental health condition. Here, we seek to validate differentiation as an independent predictor of later mental health conditions, and to explore its aetiology.MethodsWe analysed data from ~79,000 children in the population-based Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study, and linked health-care registries. In preregistered analyses, we modelled the extent and rate of differentiation of behavioural and emotional problems between ages 1.5-5 years, and estimated associations with later symptoms (age 8) and diagnoses (after age 8). We also explored the aetiology of differentiation by estimating associations with early life exposures and, in a subset of 23,945 full siblings, assessing the impact of accounting for unobserved familial confounding.ResultsDifferentiation of behavioural and emotional problems was associated with later symptoms and diagnoses of mental health conditions, independent of total problems. Maternal at-risk drinking (β = 0.04 [0.02, 0.06]) and parental relationship problems (β = 0.04 [0.02, 0.05]) were associated with higher behavioural relative to emotional problems at age 5. Maternal prenatal distress (|β| = 0.04 [0.03, 0.06]), concurrent distress (|β| = 0.04 [0.02, 0.06]) and parental education (|β| = 0.05 [0.04, 0.07]) predicted higher emotional relative to behavioural problems at age 5. Estimates for maternal prenatal distress and at-risk drinking were consistent across both unadjusted and adjusted analyses accounting for unobserved familial risk.ConclusionsDifferentiation of behavioural and emotional problems in early childhood represents a valid source of inter-individual variability linked to the later emergence of psychopathology and may be relevant for early detection and prevention strategies for mental health.

Dataset Information

Does bullying cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers.

Publications

Does bullying cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets