2.44 STABILITY OF BULLYING AND VICTIMIZATION FROM CHILDHOOD THROUGH ADOLESCENCE IN A GENERAL POPULATION SAMPLE

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Vol. 55; no. 10; pp. S134 - S135
• Main Authors: Mayes, Susan D., PhD, Lockridge, Robin, Baweja, Ritika, MD, Waschbusch, Daniel A., PhD, Calhoun, Susan L., PhD, Baweja, Raman, MD, Bixler, Edward, PhD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Elsevier Inc 01-10-2016; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Adolescents; Age; Behavior modification; Bullying; Child development; Childhood; Children; Life course; Longitudinal Studies; Mothers; Pediatrics; Population studies; Prevention programs; Psychiatry; Quantitative psychology; Suffering; Victimization; Young adults; United States > US
• ISSN: 0890-8567; 1527-5418
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2016.09.110

Objectives: Little is known about the stability of bullying and victimization from childhood to adolescence. To our knowledge, our study is the first general population, longitudinal study to assess the stability of both bullying and victimization from childhood into young adulthood in the United States. Methods: Mothers rated their children's behavior during the past two months on a four-point scale (0 = not at all or almost never a problem to 3 = very often a problem) on the 165-item Pediatric Behavior Scale (PBS). Bullying was assessed by one PBS item ("threatens, bullies, or picks on other children") and victimization by another item ("gets teased or picked on by other children"). Results: Children (N = 376) were from a population-based sample group (54 percent male). The children were rated at age 6-12 years (mean age = 9 years) and again 8 years later (mean age = 16 years). The incidence of bullying and the incidence of victimization were approximately twice as high in childhood as in adolescence. Bullying was at least sometimes a problem for 14 percent at baseline, 9 percent at follow-up, and 4 percent at both baseline and follow-up. Victimization was at least sometimes a problem for 28 percent at baseline, 14 percent at follow-up, and 7 percent at both baseline and follow-up. A minority (26 percent) of children who were victims at baseline continued to be a victim at follow-up, and 30 percent of children who were bullies at baseline continued to be a bully at follow-up. The percentages of children who were victims only and children who were both bullies and victims decreased at twice the rate as those for bullies only. Adolescents who were not a bully or a victim at follow-up were four times more likely to have been a victim only in childhood than a bully only or a bully and/ or victim. The outcome was the poorest for children who were both a bully and a victim at baseline, with less than half (43 percent) being neither a bully nor a victim at follow-up. In contrast, most children who were a bully only or a victim only at baseline were neither a bully nor a victim at follow-up (68 and 71 percent, respectively). Conclusions: Our study indicates that bullying and victimization are relatively unstable from childhood to adolescence. However, the findings that 30 percent are still bullies, that 26 percent are still victims, and that half of adolescent bullies and victims are new cases support the need for intervention to eliminate bullying, relieve current suffering, reduce chronicity, and prevent bullying from developing.