Citation

Jantzer V, Haffner J, Parzer P, Resch F, Kaess M. BMC Public Health 2015; 15: 583.

Affiliation

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Blumenstraße 8, Heidelberg, 69115, Germany. Michael.Kaess@med.uni-heidelberg.de.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s12889-015-1940-x

PMID

26099341

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Being a victim of bullying in school is clearly linked to various social, emotional, and behavioral problems including self-harm behavior. However, it is not known whether even occasional victimization has similar negative consequences and whether protective factors such as social support may prevent those harmful developments. The present study therefore focuses on the nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal behavior (SB) in victims of bullying and the potentially moderating effect of parental monitoring.

METHODS: In all, a cross-sectional sample of 647 adolescents (mean age 12.8 years) were surveyed concerning bullying experiences, NSSI and SB, and parental monitoring.

RESULTS: A total of 14.4 % of respondents reported being a victim of frequent bullying in the past few months (with verbal and social bullying playing the most important role), which increased the risks of both NSSI (OR = 11.75) and SB (OR = 6.08). This relationship could also be shown for occasional victims of bullying (35.6 %), although to a lesser extent. Parental monitoring had a significant protective effect on SB in victims of occasional bullying. However, parental monitoring did not show any protective effect in victims of repetitive bullying.

CONCLUSIONS: Victims of bullying show a substantial risk for engaging in self-harm behavior. Therefore, the dissemination of anti-bullying programs in schools would probably also prevent such disorders. Parental participation in school-based prevention may increase its effect; this also matches the results of the present study, showing that parental monitoring may be able to buffer the negative effects of bullying victimization, at least to a certain degree.

Language: en