Skip to main content

Exposure to Bullying Among Adolescents Across Nine Countries

Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma volume 11, pages 121–127 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Bullying is not included in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) criteria (Criteria A, APA, 2013) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, several studies have demonstrated the association between bullying (including those being the bully, victim) and PTSD. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between bullying and PTSD and suicide attempts among adolescents across nine countries. A total of 4051 adolescents with a mean age of 14.9 years found that 36.6% of the adolescents reported exposure to bullying. There were some gender differences across countries. Bullying was significantly associated with PTSD symptoms and suicide attempts among the adolescents. National prevention plans and interventions are needed to prevent bullying.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Alavi, N., Nasreen Roberts, M., Axas, N., & Repetti, L. (2015). Bullying victimization (being bullied) among adolescents referred for urgent psychiatric consultation: prevalence and association with suicidality. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 60, 427–431.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bjorkqvist, K. (1994). Sex differenecs in physical, verbal, and indirect aggression: a review of recent research. Sex Roles, 30, 177–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bödvarsdóttir, Í., & Elklit, A. (2007). Victimization and PTSD-like states in an Icelandic youth probability sample. BMC Psychiatry, 7, 51–57.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Carlisle, N., & Rofes, E. (2007). School bullying: do adult survivors perceive long-term effects? Traumatology, 13, 16–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carney, J. (2008). Perceptions of bullying and associated trauma during adolescence. Professional School Counseling, 11, 179–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chui, W. H., & Chan, H. C. O. (2015). Self-control, school bullying perpetration, and victimization among Macanese adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24, 1751–1761.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Copeland, W. E., Wolke, D., Angold, A., & Costello, E. J. (2013). Adult psychiatric outcomes of bullying and being bullied by peers in childhood and adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry, 70, 419–426.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, W., Harel-Fisch, Y., Fogel-Grinvald, H., Dostaler, S., Hetland, J., Simons-Morton, B., et al. (2009). A cross-national profile of bullying and victimization among adolescents in 40 countries. International Journal of Public Health, 54, 216–224.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, J. W., Oehler, J., & Capaccioli, K. (2010). The relationship between peer victimization and post-traumatic stress symptomatology in a rural sample. Psychology in the Schools, 47, 297–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dempsey, A. G., & Storch, E. A. (2008). Relational victimization: the association between recalled adolescent social experiences and emotional adjustment in early adulthood. Psychology in the Schools, 45, 310–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domanskaité-Gota, V., Elklit, A., & Christiansen, D. M. (2009). Victimization and PTSD in a Lithuanian national youth probability sample. Nordic Psychology, 61(3), 66–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Due, P., Holstein, B. E., Lynch, J., Diderichsen, F., Gabhain, S. N., Scheidt, P., & Currie, C. (2005). Bullying and symptoms among school-aged children:international comparative cross sectional study in 28 countries. The European Journal of Public Health, 15, 128–132.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elklit, A. (2002). Victimization and PTSD in a Danish national youth probability sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 174–181.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, E. H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle: Selected papers. Psychological issues, 1(1). New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, L. C., & Jacobsen, K. H. (2009). Bullying among middle-school students in low and middle income countries. Health Promotion International, 25, 73–84.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. (1988). The relationship between coping and emotions: implications for theory and research. Social Science & Medicine, 26, 309–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fosse, G. K., & Holen, A. (2004). Cohabitation, education, and occupation of psychiatric outpatients bullied as children. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192, 385–388.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hay, C., & Meldrum, R. (2010). Bullying victimization and adolescent self-harm: testing hypotheses from general strain theory. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 446–459.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hazler, R. J. (1996). Bystanders: an overlooked factor in peer on peer abuse. Journal for the Professional Counselor, 11, 11–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyman, I., Cohen, I., & Mahon, M. (2003). Student Alienation Syndrome: A paradigm for understanding the relation between school trauma and school violence. The California School Psychologist, 8, 73–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Idsoe, T., Dyregrov, A., & Idsoe, E. C. (2012). Bullying and PTSD symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40, 901–911.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Isolan, L., Salum, G. A., Osowski, A. T., Zottis, G. H., & Manfro, G. G. (2013). Victims and bully-victims but not bullies are groups associated with anxiety symptomatology among Brazilian children and adolescents. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 22, 641–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jessor, R. (1991). Risk behavior in adolescence: a psychosocial framework for understanding and action. Journal of Adolescent Health, 12(8), 597–605.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kevorkian, M., & D’Antona, R. (2008). 101 facts about bullying: What everyone should know. Lanham: R&L Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster, S. L., Melka, S. E., & Rodriguez, B. F. (2009). An examination of the differential effects of the experience of DSM-IV defined traumatic events and life stressors. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23, 711–717.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster, S. L., Melka, S. E., & Rodriguez, B. F. (2011). Emotional predictors of PTSD symptoms. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3, 313–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ledley, D. R., Storch, E. A., Coles, M. E., Heimberg, R. G., Moser, J., & Bravata, E. A. (2006). The relationship between childhood teasing and later interpersonal functioning. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 28, 33–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luukkonen, A. H., Räsänen, P., Hakko, H., & Riala, K. (2009). Bullying behavior is related to suicide attempts but not to self-mutilation among psychiatric inpatient adolescents. Psychopathology, 4, 131–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mandrup, L., & Elklit, A. (2014). Victimization and PTSD in Ugandan youth. Open Journal of Epidemiology, 4, 141–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meltzer, H., Vostanis, P., Ford, T., Bebbington, P., & Dennis, M. S. (2011). Victims of bullying in childhood and suicide attempts in adulthood. European Psychiatry, 26, 498–503.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mollica, R. F., Caspi-Yavin, Y., Bollini, P., Truong, T., Tor, S., & Lavelle, J. (1992). The Harvard trauma questionnaire: validating a cross-cultural instrument for measuring torture, trauma, and posttraumatic stress disorder in Indochinese refugees. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180, 111–116.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morrell, R. (2006). Corporal punishment in South African schools: a neglected explanation for its existence. South African Journal of Education, 21, 292–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moser, J. S., Hajcak, G., Simons, R. F., & Foa, E. B. (2007). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in trauma-exposed college students: The role of trauma-related cognitions, gender, and negative affect. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21, 1039–1049.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Muuss, R. E. (1975). Theories of adolescence (3rd ed.). New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mynard, H., Joseph, S., & Alexander, J. (2000). Peer victimization and posttraumatic stress in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 815–821.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nansel, T. R., Overpeck, M. D., Haynie, D. L., Ruan, W. J., & Scheidt, P. C. (2003). Relationships between bullying and violence among US youth. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 157, 348–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, M. L., Holden, G. W., & Delville, Y. (2011). Coping with the stress of being bullied: consequences of coping strategies among college students. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2, 205–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nock, M. K., Green, J. G., Hwang, I., McLaughlin, K. A., Sampson, N. A., Zaslavsky, A. M., & Kessler, R. C. (2013). Prevalence, correlates, and treatment of lifetime suicidal behavior among adolescents: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement. JAMA Psychiatry, 70, 300–310.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Obrdajj, E. C., Sesar, K., Santic, Z., Klaric, M., Sesar, I., & Rumboldt, M. (2013). Trauma symptoms in pupils involved in school bullying — a cross-sectional study conducted in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Collegium Antropologicum, 37, 11–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying in schools. What we know and what we can do. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olweus, D., & Limber, S. P. (2010). Bullying in school: evaluation and dissemination of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80, 124–134.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, T., Elklit, A., & Olesen, J. G. (2010). Victimization and PTSD in The Faroese youth total-population sample. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 56–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeiffer, J. P., & Pinquart, M. (2014). Bullying in German boarding schools: a pilot study. School Psychology International, 35, 580–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. (1972). Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. Human Development, 15, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Randall, J. R., Doku, D., Wilson, M. L., & Peltzer, K. (2014). Suicidal behaviour and related risk factors among school-aged youth in the Republic of Benin. PloS One, 9, e88233.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Salleh, N. M., & Zainal, K. (2014). Bullying among secondary school students in Malaysia: A case study. International Education Studies, 7(13), 184–191.

  • Salmivalli, C. (2010). Bullying and the peer group: a review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 15, 112–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salmivalli, C., Kärnä, A., & Poskiparta, E. (2010). From peer putdowns to peer support: a theoretical model and how it translated into a national anti-bullying program. In S. Jimerson, S. Swearer, & D. Espelage (Eds.), Handbook of bullying in schools: an international perspective (pp. 441–454). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigurdson, J. F., Undheim, A. M., Wallander, J. L., Lydersen, S., & Sund, A. M. (2015). The long-term effects of being bullied or a bully in adolescence on externalizing and internalizing mental health problems in adulthood. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 9, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. K., Cowie, H., Olafsson, R. F., & Liefooghe, A. P. (2002). Definitions of bullying: a comparison of terms used, and age and gender differences, in a fourteen–country international comparison. Child Development, 73, 1119–1133.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sourander, A., Helstelä, L., Helenius, H., & Piha, J. (2000). Persistence of bullying from childhood to adolescence—a longitudinal 8-year follow-up study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24, 873–881.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swearer, S. M., & Hymel, S. (2015). Understanding the psychology of bullying: moving toward a social-ecological diathesis–stress model. American Psychologist, 70, 344–353.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Trach, J., Hymel, S., Waterhouse, T., & Neale, K. (2010). Bystander responses to school bullying: a cross-sectional investigation of grade and sex differences. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 25, 114–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ttofi, M. M., Farrington, D. P., Losel, F., & Loeber, R. (2011). Do the victims of school bullies tend to become depressed later in life? A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 3, 63–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uba, I., Yaacob, S. N., & Juhari, R. (2010). Bullying and its’ relationship with Depression among Teenagers. The Journal of Psychology, 1, 15–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Geel, M., Vedder, P., & Tanilon, J. (2014). Relationship between peer victimization, cyberbullying, and suicide in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 168, 435–442.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks to all participants who gave us their full cooperation during the data collection. Authors wish to thank Siobhan Murphy for assistance with editing.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Yoke Yong Chen

  2. Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Malaysia Sarawak, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Yoke Yong Chen

  3. Department of Psychology, National Centre for Psychotraumatology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Ask Elklit

Authors
  1. Yoke Yong Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ask Elklit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoke Yong Chen.

Ethics declarations

Funding

This study was funded by the National Centre for Psychotraumatology University of Southern Denmark: Grant No UNIMAS L18403 F05 00 PTSD.

Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to report.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Additional information

This article has not been published elsewhere and has not also been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, Y.Y., Elklit, A. Exposure to Bullying Among Adolescents Across Nine Countries. Journ Child Adol Trauma 11, 121–127 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-017-0172-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-017-0172-x

Keywords

  • Bullying
  • Adolescents
  • PTSD
  • Suicide attempt