Childhood bullying linked to suicide risk for teens

By Lisa Rapaport

(Reuters Health) – Adolescents who experienced severe bullying by their peers earlier in childhood may be more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts than teens who weren’t routinely victimized by other kids, a Canadian study suggests.

At age 15, researchers asked teens about the frequency of depression, anxiety, social problems, conduct issues or behavior challenges in the previous 12 months.

Overall, about 7 percent of the teens exposed to little or no victimization as kids had depression, compared with almost 18 percent of adolescents who had suffered severe bullying by their peers, researchers report in CMAJ.

At the same time, 7 percent of teens with little or no exposure to bullying had general anxiety, compared with 20 percent of youth who had been constantly victimized by their peers.

Adolescents who were chronically bullied as kids were also much more likely to experience social anxiety, eating problems, conduct issues and behavior challenges, the study found.

About 3 percent of teens who had little previous exposure to bullying had suicidal thoughts, compared to 13 percent of teens who had suffered from routine peer victimization growing up.

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how peer victimization early in childhood might influence mental health in adolescence. Another limitation is that researchers relied on kids to accurately recall and report on any mental health problems or experiences with victimization.

Still, the findings add to the body of evidence already linking bullying and peer victimization to future mental health problems, said Dieter Wolke, a psychology researcher at the University of Warwick in the UK who wasn’t involved in the study.

“One of the most painful feelings is to be socially rejected, ridiculed, beaten and embarrassed by other classmates,” Wolke said by email. “If this continues chronically, it not only increases anxiety of social contacts, it leads to defeat and internalization that one is useless, worthless, incapable, not worth loving.”