Childhood bullying may lead to a host of negative physical and psychological effects over time, according to a study published in the March/April issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.
Bullying is not merely an unpleasant childhood rite of passage, but a public health concern, with chronic stress from bullying tied to a range of health complications, said study co-author Susannah Tye, PhD, director of the Translational Neuroscience Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic Depression Center. According to Tye, bullying is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem, but the long-term health effects associated with bullying require more attention.
Researchers conducted a review on bullying literature, focusing on peer-to-peer bullying among youth. The researchers acknowledged in the study that while children can be bullied in other relationships, most literature addresses bullying among children and adolescents. Further, the researchers noted that childhood is a time of vulnerability in growth, with the effects from bullying creating a long-lasting impact on a person’s health.
According to the study, more than one-quarter of children report experiencing bullying or peer victimization, with up to 14 percent experiencing chronic peer victimization, or regular exposure to such behavior lasting at least six months. Girls and boys both experience bullying, albeit generally through different means. Boys are more likely to be victimized through direct physical and verbal methods, whereas girls are more likely to be on the receiving end of interpersonal and social bullying, the study said.
The study pointed to prospective research that found male victims of bullying are 18 times more at risk of suicidality than males who were not bullied, while female victims of bullying are about 27 times more at risk for panic disorders.
According to the study, exposure to chronic stress — such as that from childhood bullying — results in biological wear and tear within a person’s body, in a process called allostatic load. Such erosion has a negative impact on homeostasis, or the body’s mechanism for self-regulation. Children who have been bullied may also experience weakened resilience, affecting their ability to cope with stressors in life.
In addition, stressful childhood experiences are associated with markers for disease risk, including inflammation and increased blood pressure. The study noted that stress, inflammation and metabolic status all have the greatest influence on epigenetic programming, meaning that bullying-induced stress can impact a person’s gene expression.
While the researchers have not determined a definitive relationship between bullying and lasting negative health outcomes, the current study prompts further investigation.
“Bullying is not only a sociological or biological process but…a biopsychosocial problem that requires an integrated, longitudinal research approach to identify risk factors and long-term health effects,” the study stated.
Schools, families and communities need better education about what bullying looks like and how it may harm children throughout their lives, according to Tye.
“Education on the impact of stress on an individual’s health and well-being would be an important addition” to the general curriculum, including “the biological and physiological consequences of stress (and) teaching young people and people of all ages how to cope with stress,” Tye told The Nation’s Health.
For more information, visit http://journals.lww.com/hrpjournal/Abstract/2017/03000/How_Well_Do_We_Understand_the_Long_Term_Health.5.aspx.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
