Citation

Frizzo MN, Bisol LW, Lara DR. J. Affect. Disord. 2013; 148(1): 48-52.

Affiliation

Instituto Cenecista de Ensino Superior de Santo Ângelo (CNEC-IESA) and Universidade Regional do Noroeste do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (UNIJUÍ), Ijuí, RS 98700-000, Brazil; Faculdade de Biociências, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, RS 90619-900, Brazil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2012.11.046

PMID

23245468

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Being bullied has been increasingly recognized as a risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders, but there is very limited evidence on the association of bullying with temperament. METHODS: The data was collected in a large web-survey on psychological and psychiatric measures (BRAINSTEP). Bullying was assessed with a question on time exposed to bullying (none, <1 year, 1-3 years and >3 years) during childhood and adolescence. Emotional traits and affective temperaments were evaluated with the Affective and Emotional Composite Temperament Scale (AFECTS). The final sample consisted of 50,882 subjects (mean age 30.8±10.4 years, 73.4% females) with valid answers. RESULTS: About half of the sample reported exposure to bullying and ∼10% reported being victimized by peers for longer than 3 years. Longer exposure to bullying was associated with lower Volition, Coping and Control scores, and more Emotional Sensitivity, Anger and Fear, with statistical significance between all groups. To a lower degree, exposure to bullying was associated with lower Caution and higher Desire scores. Bullying victimization was also associated with a much lower proportion of euthymic and hyperthymic types in both genders, which was compensated by an increase mainly in the proportion of depressive, cyclothymic and volatile types. LIMITATIONS: Retrospective assessment of bullying with a single question on time exposed to bullying and use of self-report instruments only. CONCLUSIONS: Being bullied was associated with a broad and profound impact on emotional and cognitive domains in all dimensions of emotional traits, and with internalized and unstable affective temperaments.

Language: en