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Childhood bullying predicts depression, anxiety, PTSD in young adulthood

College students who experienced childhood bullying and victimization were more likely to report symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD, according to recent findings.

“Bullying victimization significantly predicted students’ current levels of depression and anxiety — over and above other childhood victimization experiences,” Dorothy L. Espelage, PhD, of the University of Illinois, said in a press release. “The prevalence of psychological distress in children who have been bullied is well-documented, and this research suggests that college students’ psychological distress may be connected in part to their perceptions of past childhood bullying victimization experiences.”

Dorothy L. Espelage

To assess associations between childhood bullying, multiple forms of victimization and psychological functioning in older adolescents, researchers surveyed 482 undergraduate students about their childhood bullying experiences and current psychological functioning. The cohort included 21.6% freshman, 38.2% sophomores, 16.2% juniors and 23.4% seniors.

Childhood bullying was significantly associated with higher levels of reported depressive symptoms (P < .01), anxiety (P < .01) and PTSD (P < .01).

Being victimized by peers was associated with other forms of victimization, such as having experienced theft or property damage (P < .001) and assault (P < .001).

Regression analyses indicated that childhood bullying was a significant predictor of depression, accounting for 13% of the variance; anxiety, accounting for 10% of the variance; and PTSD, accounting for 21% of the variance.

Exposure to community violence, childhood verbal and physical abuse or neglect was associated with greater PTSD symptoms. However, greater bullying victimization was the strongest predictor of PTSD symptoms.

Females reported greater symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD than males.

“The results presented in this investigation suggest that being bullied in school is correlated with psychological symptoms among college students. Although statements of causation cannot be made, these data do support the possibility that bullying victimization, along with other victimization experiences, are important to assess among college students,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore, clinicians working in university counseling centers would benefit from continued training on the current research in the area of bullying and victimization. This is a critical first step in restoring students’ social and behavioral functioning.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Please see the full study for a list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.