Bullying is an all too common problem in our schools and workplaces. In this blog I will address long term effects from bullying during childhood and adolescence. The good news is that the American Journal of Public Health reported that bullying and physical fighting has decreased in incidence from 1998-2010. The decrease has been more apparent in middle school than at the high school level. Also, the decrease was greater among boys than girls.
Some people imagine that bullying is mostly a problem among people from lower socioeconomic classes. However, although there is a slight preponderance of bullies and victims among kids from lower socioeconomic classes, it is found in all classes.
This topic has gained prominence recently as a result of high profile suicides among girls who were victims of cyberbullying. Girls are more likely to use indirect means of bullying such as emailing malicious things about others even if untrue. Jealousy over a boy is often the triggering event.
Bullying can be physical such as hitting, fighting or shoving; verbal such as insulting, gossiping or cyberbullying; or behavioral such as stealing or making obscene gestures. Boys are more likely to engage in physical or violent threats or behavior than girls. This is not to say that verbal bullying is necessarily less damaging than physical bullying. This is evidenced by the suicides mentioned above.
While it makes sense that bullying would cause negative reactions in the short term, the question has arisen about whether bullying during childhood and adolescence can lead to longer term negative effects. It is now known that bullying can lead to long-term social, psychological, and health problems. A study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA in May 2014 showed that bullying can cause a long- term increase in a blood marker for inflammation in victims of bullying. It is known that chronic inflammation adversely affects physical and, possibly, mental health.
A comprehensive study of the effects of bullying over a 50 year timespan was reported by the British National Child Development Study that looked at the impact of bullying on adults at age 23 and 50 who were bullied between the ages of 7 and 11. What they found was an increase in psychological distress, and those adults who were victims of frequent bullying had more depression, suicidality, lack of social relationships, economic hardship, and poor perceived quality of life at age 50.
This study supports the observation that childhood bullying can have negative effects for many years over a victim's lifetime. It is very difficult to rule out the possibility that there are aspects of victims that make them more likely to be bullied and also could lead to the negative outcomes mentioned above. However, there is no real evidence to support such a hypothesis.
The bottom line is that bullying during childhood and adolescence is common among both boys and girls. Verbal abuse can be direct (e.g., insulting someone to their face) or indirect (e.g., spreading lies). Bullying causes immediate distress and worse but also can lead to psychological, social and health problems well into adulthood.
Peter M. Hartmann, MD
