Association of childhood bullying victimisation with suicide deaths: findings from a 50-year nationwide cohort study

An eighteen-year longitudinal examination of school victimization and weapon use in California secondary schools

BACKGROUND

School safety has been a major public health issue in the United States and internationally for more than three decades. Many policies and programs have been developed and implemented to prevent school violence, improve the school climate, and increase safety. There are only a few peer-reviewed studies of changes in school violence over time. The study examined changes over time in school victimization, weapon involvement and school climate, comparing change trajectories by gender and race and different change trajectories among schools.

METHODS

A longitudinal study of the biennial California Healthy Kids Survey in secondary schools from 2001 to 2019. The representative sample included 6,219,166 students in grades 7, 9, and 11 (48.8% male) from 3253 schools (66% high schools).

RESULTS

All victimization and weapon involvement items had significant and substantial linear reductions. The largest reduction involved being in a physical fight (from 25.4% to 11.0%). There were reductions in weapon involvement (d = 0.46) and victimization (d = 0.38). Biased-based victimization only declined slightly (d = -0.05). School belongingness and safety increased (d = 0.27), adult support increased a small amount (d = 0.05), and student participation declined (d = -0.10). Changes were smallest among White students. Ninety-five percent of the schools showed the same pattern of reductions.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings are in contrast to the public's concerns that school violence is a growing problem. Reductions in school violence may result from social investment in school safety. A distinction should be made between school shootings and other forms of school violence.

The relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying among Chinese adolescents: the role of social exclusion and sense of control

Introduction

Abundant evidence has proved the association between the Dark Triad and bullying. However, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship are still not fully understood. Based on the temporal need-threat model, three studies were designed to explore the mediating role of social exclusion and sense of control in this research.

Methods

In study 1 we recruited 571 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 14.53, SD = 0.716) to participate in a cross-sectional study. And two experiments were respectively designed in Study 2 (N = 88) and Study 3 (N = 102) to verify the effects of real and cyber social exclusion on adolescent bullying behavior.

Results

Study 1 showed that social exclusion and sense of control would play the serial mediating role in the relationship between the Dark Triad and bullying (except social exclusion as a mediator between the Dark Triad and cyberbullying). Study 2 and 3 showed that adolescents with high Dark Triad show lower sense of control and more bullying behavior after experiencing social exclusion.

Discussion

These findings extend the research on the Dark Triad and bullying by providing a solid empirical foundation and intervention strategies to avoid bullying so that the problem can be rationally and scientifically approached.

The association between childhood bullying victimisation and childhood maltreatment with the clinical expression of bipolar disorder

Adverse childhood experiences are significantly associated with a worse clinical expression of bipolar disorder, however, the literature has mainly focused on childhood maltreatment (abuse and neglect) with little attention paid to other forms of adversity, such as childhood bullying victimisation (referred to here as bullying), although this is known to have a negative impact on different psychiatric illnesses. The current study aimed to investigate the association between bullying victimisation and the clinical expression of bipolar disorder individually and in combination with childhood maltreatment. This investigation consisted of 63 individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (mean age 61.4 years) who completed the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to measure exposure to bullying and childhood maltreatment, respectively. The clinical expression variables were assessed using self-report instruments, these were: the Cardiff Anomalous Perceptions Scale (psychotic symptoms), Suicide Behaviours Questionnaire, Self-Report Manic Inventory, Beck Anxiety and Depression Inventories. The results showed that exposure to bullying was significantly associated with more suicidal behaviours (F(1,61) = 11.02, p < .01, η² = 0.15) and psychotic symptoms (F(1,61) = 4.21, p < .05, η² = .06). When bullying and childhood maltreatment histories were combined, the results showed that individuals with a history of both adversity types reported significantly more suicidal behaviours (F(2,60) = 6.59, p < .01, R²=.18) compared to those with a history of one or neither form of adversity. The sample size, age and gender distribution, limit the generalisability of the findings. However, the current results underscore the need to account for bullying victimisation when considering the adverse childhood experiences-bipolar disorder relationship, especially its clinical expression.

Associations between epigenetic aging and childhood peer victimization, depression, and suicidal ideation in adolescence and adulthood: A study of two population-based samples

Background: Prior studies indicate that peer victimization (including bullying) is associated with higher risk for depression and suicidal ideation across the life course. However, molecular mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. This two-cohort study proposes to test whether epigenetic aging and pace of aging, as well as a DNA methylation marker of responsive to glucocorticoids, are associated to childhood peer victimization and later depressive symptoms, or suicidal ideation. Methods: Cohort 1: Epigenome-wide DNA methylation (EPIC array) was measured in saliva collected when participants were 10.47 years (standard deviation = 0.35) in a subsample of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD, n = 149 participants), with self-reported peer victimization at 6-8 years, depressive symptoms (mean symptoms, and dichotomized top 30% symptoms) and suicidal ideation at 15-17 years. Cohort 2: Epigenome-wide DNA methylation (EPIC array) was measured in blood collected from participants aged 45.13 years (standard deviation = 0.37) in a subsample of the 1958 British Birth cohort (1958BBC, n = 238 participants) with information on mother-reported peer victimization at 7-11 years, self-reported depressive symptoms at 50 years, and suicidal ideation at 45 years. Five epigenetic indices were derived: three indicators of epigenetic aging [Horvath's pan-tissue (Horvath1), Horvath's Skin-and-Blood (Horvath2), Pediatric-Buccal-Epigenetic age (PedBE)], pace of aging (DunedinPACE), and stress response reactivity (Epistress). Results: Peer victimization was not associated with the epigenetic indices in either cohort. In the QLSCD, higher PedBE epigenetic aging and a slower pace of aging as measured by DunedinPACE predicted higher depressive symptoms scores. In contrast, neither the Horvath1, or Horvath2 epigenetic age estimates, nor the Epistress score were associated with depressive symptoms in either cohort, and none of the epigenetic indices predicted suicidal ideation. Conclusion: The findings are consistent with epigenome-wide and candidate gene studies suggesting that these epigenetic indices did not relate to peer victimization, challenging the hypothesis that cumulative epigenetic aging indices could translate vulnerability to depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation following peer victimization. Since some indices of epigenetic aging and pace of aging signaled higher risk for depressive symptoms, future studies should pursue this investigation to further evaluate the robustness and generalization of these preliminary findings.