Bullying exposure associated with adult psychiatric disorders requiring treatment

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/tjnj-bea120715.php

Public Release: 9-Dec-2015
Bullying exposure associated with adult psychiatric disorders requiring treatment
The JAMA Network Journals

Exposure to bullying as a child was associated with psychiatric disorders in adulthood that required treatment in a study of Finnish children, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry.

Previous research has suggested bullying and exposure to bullying may contribute to later mental health.

Andre Sourander, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Turku, Finland, and coauthors examined associations between bullying behavior at age 8 and adult psychiatric outcomes by age 29.

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About 90 percent of study participants (4,540 of 5,034) did not engage in bullying behavior and, of those, 520 (11.5 percent) had received a psychiatric diagnosis by follow-up. In comparison, 33 of 166 (19.9 percent) of participants who engaged in frequent bullying, 58 of 251 (23.1 percent) participants frequently exposed to bullying, and 24 of 77 (31.2 percent) participants who both frequently engaged in and were frequently exposed to bullying had psychiatric diagnoses by follow-up, according to the results.

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The treatment of any psychiatric disorder was associated with frequent exposure to bullying, as well as with being a bully and being exposed to bullying. Exposure to bullying was associated with depression, according to the results.

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