Bullied teens less likely to be depressed if they feel connected at school, study finds

• Link to: Northwestern Now Story

• Bullying was more common in childhood, but bullied adolescents felt more psychological distress
• Unlike previous studies, this work examined cumulative bullying experiences at ages 9 and 15, which allowed the scientists to evaluate the impact of bullying over time
• Teachers should encourage students to learn about each other, collaborate on projects

CHICAGO --- Feeling connected at school can stave off depression symptoms associated with being a victim of bullying in adolescence, according to a recently published study from scientists at Northwestern University and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Previous studies have examined bullying victimization and health outcomes among children and youth, but they often evaluate study participants at a single time point, neglecting the potential cumulative effects of bullying across childhood.

In this study, youth reported the impact of bullying first when they were nine years old, and then again when they were 15, which allowed the scientists to evaluate and account for the impact of the repeated bullying over time.

“Our findings indicate that kids who were bullied at both ages 9 and 15 had the highest levels of anxiety and depression,” said corresponding author Tiwaloluwa Ajibewan, assistant professor of preventive medicine (epidemiology) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Taken together, our results point in part to the compounding harm of bullying on mental health outcomes.”

The study was published Aug. 14 in BMC Public Health.

“Childhood experiences shape health and well-being for a lifetime,” said senior author Norrina Allen, vice chair for research in the department of preventive medicine at Feinberg. “This study shows us the harms of bullying can accumulate and affect both mental and physical health, but that feeling connected at school can help protect against these lasting effects. As a parent, this is especially timely with the start of a new school year — every child deserves to begin the year feeling safe, supported, and included."

How the study worked

The study’s primary aim was to examine peer bullying victimization experiences in childhood, adolescence and in both periods (i.e., cumulative, or long-term). The questions study participants were asked included: “Kids at school pick on you or say mean things to you” and “Kids at school hit you or threaten to hurt you physically.” The scientists measured school connectedness by the degrees of inclusiveness, closeness, happiness and safety of adolescents within the school environment.

The scientists looked at more than 2,100 teens, around age 15, with an even mix of boys and girls and about half identifying as non-Hispanic Black. They grouped the teens based on their experiences with bullying:

• 39% reported never having been bullied
• 43% reported having been bullied at age 9
• 6% reported having been bullied at age 15
• 12% reported having experienced long-term bullying

The study found that any experience with bullying — whether in the preadolescence, adolescence or over a long period — was linked to higher levels of anxiety. Teens who were bullied during adolescence or over a longer period of time had the highest anxiety scores.

When it came to depression, only adolescent and long-term bullying were clearly linked to higher depression scores. Interestingly, feeling connected to school helped lessen the impact of recent bullying on depression, but it didn’t seem to help with anxiety or with the effects of bullying in preadolescents or cumulative experiences with victimization.

Feeling connected at school can help

“We found that peer bullying during adolescence was associated with higher anxiety and depression symptoms than peer bullying experiences during childhood,” said co-author Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, assistant professor of pediatrics and medical social sciences at Feinberg and pediatrician and researcher at Lurie Children’s Hospital.

“This finding might be due in part to the heightened social sensitivity of adolescents to their peers and the significant influence of peer relationships among teenagers than children. Likewise, we saw that school connectedness was more protective against depression in teens than in younger children.”

Teachers can foster peer support by encouraging students to learn more about each other and incorporating collaborative projects into the curriculum to better enable groups of students to work together, the study authors said.  

“Despite the associations we observed with bullying and anxiety and depression, our finding with school connectedness speaks to the importance of creating caring and supportive learning environments for students,” Abijewa said. “Environments where students learn to work together, establish supportive relationships and are provided with opportunities to practice conflict resolution and respect all help to reinforce feelings of belonging.”

Being involved in extracurricular activities didn’t seem to make a difference in how bullying affected teens’ mental health in the sample.

“Although our data shows that bullying was more common during childhood, adolescence emerged as the more vulnerable period in terms of psychological distress,” Heard-Garris said. “Future studies should consider whether the influences of peer bullying in adolescence persist in early, middle and late adulthood.”

Other Northwestern study authors include Kiarri Kershaw, Mercedes Carnethon, Lauren Beach and Norrina Allen.

Funding for the study was provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grants R01HD36916, R01HD39135 and R01HD40421) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (grant K01HL147995), both of the National Institutes of Health, and a consortium of private foundations.