The Connection Between School-Based Bullying Behavior and Psychological Symptoms: A Purposeful Review of Evidence Calling for Action

Purpose  

The purpose of this roundtable presentation is to examine the connection between school-based bullying behavior and the on-set of severe psychological symptoms including depression and psychosis. The presenter and the audience will share their understanding of this connection and discuss ideas for research and how school-based mental health services can be utilized to reduce the harmful effects of bullying behavior.  

Background

Although bullying behavior has long been a concern of school personnel and parents, there is now emerging data that call for an increased focus on in-depth assessments of both victims and children who bully. Recent studies are pointing to the psychological symptoms experienced by children involved in bullying events ( Wolke, Lereya,. Fisher, Lewis & Zammit, 2014). There is evidence that depression and psychosis may be bi-directional in that they may sometimes precede the bullying experiences or become an outcome. Data show that non-clinical behaviors such as social awkwardness and low self–esteem may encourage victimization which later may lead to more serious clinical symptoms (van Dam, van der Ven, Velthorst, Selten, Morgan,& de Haan, 2012). Childhood trauma from multiple types of experiences including bullying has been associated with psychosis in children and cessation of trauma has been shown to reduce or eliminate psychosis (Kelleher, et al., 2013). Further, there is a strong indication that even when children suffer from psychosis resulting from trauma, they are typically competent in identifying the traumatic experience (Read, Agar, Argyle, & Aderhold, 2003).

Moving in the other direction, depression and suicidal thoughts have has been found to be prevalent in children who bully as well as the victims. Many children have reported being both bullying and victimization a status that throws another light on bullying studies (Klomek, et al., 2007). Further, the status of bully/victim has been associated with childhood psychosis and families that appear to be hostile and rejecting (Kelleher, et al., 2008).       

Method     

The research question was inductively derived through a review of the literature: What is the evidence that links bullying behavior and victimization to severe psychological symptoms? The interactive aspect of the roundtable will encourage participants to discuss their research and experiences related to the presented data. Included will be a discussion of the methods that can be used to generate additional data. This can be considered a form of participatory research and may encourage further work.

Findings    

An annotated list of the known studies plus participant’s contributions will be distributed by e mail to all who sign the request form. Sufficient interest may result in a list-serve among participants.  

 

Conclusion  

There are no simple solutions to preventing bullying behavior but there is evidence that there may be underlying psychological causes and consequences that need serious attention. Sharing current knowledge and requesting that from participants is one more step in the direction of increasing understanding and designing interventions.