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Bullying in clinical high risk for psychosis participants from the NAPLS-3 cohort

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Abstract

Purpose

Bullying is associated with a heightened risk for poor outcomes, including psychosis. This study aimed to replicate previous findings on bullying prevalence in clinical high-risk (CHR) individuals, to assess the longitudinal course of clinical and functional variables between bullied and non-bullied CHR and the association of bullying with premorbid functioning, clinical outcome, transition to psychosis and risk of violence.

Methods

The sample consisted of 691 CHR participants and 96 healthy controls. Participants reported whether they had experienced bullying and how long it had lasted. Assessments included DSM-5 diagnoses, attenuated psychotic symptoms, negative symptoms, social and role functioning, depression, stress, premorbid functioning, and risk of violence. The bullied and non-bullied CHR groups were compared at baseline and further longitudinally on clinical and functioning variables and transition to psychosis.

Results

Bullying was more prevalent among CHR individuals than healthy controls. Bullied CHR had a higher prevalence of PTSD and more severe depression and stress at baseline than non-bullied CHR. There was no impact of bullying on clinical and functional variables over time. Bullying was not related to final clinical status or transition to psychosis. However, bullied participants had poorer premorbid functioning and a greater risk of violence.

Conclusion

While bullying may not impact the likelihood of CHR individuals to transition to psychosis, it may be a risk factor for development of the at-risk state and may be related to a greater risk of violence. Future studies should consider bullying perpetration among CHR individuals.

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Funding

It is funded by National Institute of Mental Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada

    Amy Braun, Lu Liu & Jean Addington

  2. Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Carrie E. Bearden

  3. Department of Psychiatry, UCSD, San Diego, CA, USA

    Kristin S. Cadenhead & Ming T. Tsuang

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Long Island, NY, USA

    Barbara A. Cornblatt

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Matcheri Keshavan, Larry J. Seidman & William Stone

  6. Department of Psychiatry, UCSF, and SFVA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Daniel H. Mathalon

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Thomas H. McGlashan & Scott W. Woods

  8. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Diana O. Perkins

  9. Institute of Genomic Medicine, University of California, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Ming T. Tsuang

  10. Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Elaine F. Walker

  11. Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Tyrone D. Cannon

Authors
  1. Amy Braun
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  2. Lu Liu
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  3. Carrie E. Bearden
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  4. Kristin S. Cadenhead
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  5. Barbara A. Cornblatt
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  7. Daniel H. Mathalon
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  8. Thomas H. McGlashan
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  9. Diana O. Perkins
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  10. Larry J. Seidman
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  11. William Stone
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  12. Ming T. Tsuang
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  13. Elaine F. Walker
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  14. Scott W. Woods
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  15. Tyrone D. Cannon
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  16. Jean Addington
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean Addington.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest with respect to this study.

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Braun, A., Liu, L., Bearden, C.E. et al. Bullying in clinical high risk for psychosis participants from the NAPLS-3 cohort. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 57, 1379–1388 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-022-02239-5

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