Childhood bullying involvement predicts low-grade systemic inflammation into adulthood.
نویسندگان
چکیده
Bullying is a common childhood experience that involves repeated mistreatment to improve or maintain one's status. Victims display long-term social, psychological, and health consequences, whereas bullies display minimal ill effects. The aim of this study is to test how this adverse social experience is biologically embedded to affect short- or long-term levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of low-grade systemic inflammation. The prospective population-based Great Smoky Mountains Study (n = 1,420), with up to nine waves of data per subject, was used, covering childhood/adolescence (ages 9-16) and young adulthood (ages 19 and 21). Structured interviews were used to assess bullying involvement and relevant covariates at all childhood/adolescent observations. Blood spots were collected at each observation and assayed for CRP levels. During childhood and adolescence, the number of waves at which the child was bullied predicted increasing levels of CRP. Although CRP levels rose for all participants from childhood into adulthood, being bullied predicted greater increases in CRP levels, whereas bullying others predicted lower increases in CRP compared with those uninvolved in bullying. This pattern was robust, controlling for body mass index, substance use, physical and mental health status, and exposures to other childhood psychosocial adversities. A child's role in bullying may serve as either a risk or a protective factor for adult low-grade inflammation, independent of other factors. Inflammation is a physiological response that mediates the effects of both social adversity and dominance on decreases in health.
منابع مشابه
Does childhood bullying predict eating disorder symptoms? A prospective, longitudinal analysis.
OBJECTIVE Bullying is a common childhood experience with enduring psychosocial consequences. The aim of this study was to test whether bullying increases risk for eating disorder symptoms. METHOD Ten waves of data on 1,420 participants between ages 9 and 25 were used from the prospective population-based Great Smoky Mountains Study. Structured interviews were used to assess bullying involveme...
متن کاملThe relationship between difficulties in psychological adjustment in young adulthood and exposure to bullying behaviour in childhood and adolescence.
OBJECTIVE This study investigates the relationship between involvement in bullying in childhood and adolescence and psychological difficulties in young adulthood. MATERIALS AND METHOD A total of 249 college students completed the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire and Trauma Symptom Checklist. RESULTS The results showed significant differences in psychological adjustment among respondents...
متن کاملHow Competent are Adolescent Bullying Perpetrators and Victims in Mastering Normative Developmental Tasks in Early Adulthood?
A substantive body of literature suggests that those involved in bullying as perpetrators but particularly victims are at greater risk for psychological maladjustment. In comparison, relatively little is known about associations between bullying-victimization and perpetration and mastery of early adult tasks in domains including romantic relationships, education, work, financial competence, and...
متن کاملBullying victimization in childhood predicts inflammation and obesity at mid-life: a five-decade birth cohort study.
BACKGROUND We aimed to test whether childhood bullying victimization increases risk for age-related disease at mid-life using biological markers including inflammation and adiposity, independent of other childhood risk factors and key adult variables. METHOD The present study was a 50-year prospective longitudinal birth cohort study of all births in Britain in 1 week in 1958. Exposure to bull...
متن کاملChildhood maltreatment predicts adult inflammation in a life-course study.
Stress in early life has been associated with insufficient glucocorticoid signaling in adulthood, possibly affecting inflammation processes. Childhood maltreatment has been linked to increased risk of adult disease with potential inflammatory origin. However, the impact of early life stress on adult inflammation is not known in humans. We tested the life-course association between childhood mal...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
دوره 111 21 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2014