Citation

Sourander A, Jensen P, Rönning JA, Elonheimo H, Niemela S, Helenius H, Kumpulainen K, Piha J, Tamminen T, Moilanen I, Almqvist F. Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med. 2007; 161(6): 546-552.

Affiliation

Department of Child Psychiatry, Turku University Hospital, Kiinamyllynkatu, Turku 20520, Finland. andre.sourander@utu.fi.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/archpedi.161.6.546

PMID

17548758

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study correlations of childhood bullying and victimization with juvenile criminality. DESIGN: Longitudinal birth cohort study from age 8 years to ages 16 to 20 years. SETTING: Population-based study from Finland. PARTICIPANTS: The sample comprised 2551 boys (86.6% of the original birth cohort) with complete information about bullying and victimization from parents, teachers, and children at age 8 years. Main Outcome Measure Information about criminal offenses from the National Police Register at ages 16 to 20 years. RESULTS: Frequent bullies and those who frequently both bullied and were bullied (8.8% of the sample) were responsible for 33.0% of all juvenile crimes during the 4-year study period. Frequent bully-only status predicted both occasional and repeated offending, whereas bully-victim status predicted repeated offending. Bullying predicted most types of crime (violence, property, drunk driving, and traffic offenses) when controlled with parental education level. However, frequent bullies or victims without a high level of psychiatric symptoms were not at an elevated risk for later criminality. CONCLUSIONS: Boys who frequently bully are at risk for later criminality when this condition is accompanied by a high level of psychiatric symptoms. Frequent bullies should be actively screened for psychiatric problems.

Language: en