The Impact of Childhood Bullying in Adulthood

Research my lab colleagues and I at Stanford wrote and published in the Child Abuse and Neglect journal.

For our full article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3622771/

Bullying is a way too common experience for American youth, with 24–29% of individuals reporting having experienced some bullying before age 18. Research into the psychological impact of childhood bullying has shown that exposure to bullying can lead to mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, higher rates of suicidality, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, both in childhood and in adulthood. Further, this childhood trauma is predictive of risk behaviors in adulthood.

Our study particularly looked at men living with HIV. Our study showed that having been bullied in childhood was significantly (p < .05) associated with drug use, difficulties with mood, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in adulthood. Results also showed that bullying in childhood predicted additional, unique variance in trauma symptoms in adulthood above and beyond the effect of exposure to other forms of trauma.

Advocate for, stand up for, speak up for, love your child and teach them to do the same for themselves.