Mental health of psychiatric outpatients bullied in childhood
Abstract
Bullying hurts – even many years later
This thesis indicates that bullying by peers in school during childhood is associated withmental health problems in adulthood; almost50 per cent of the 160 psychiatric outpatients reported bullying by peers.
As adults, those bullied in childhood demonstrated higher psychiatric symptom levels, lower self-esteem and more external locus of control. They also reported more bulimianervosa. In addition, they were often singles, and, they had lower levels of education.Bullying by peers was also associated with other types of maltreatment in childhood. Male outpatients bullied by peers in school often grew up without biological fathers. Victimized female outpatients bullied in school reported more childhood abuse and neglect. Overprotective fathers were more common in outpatients with bulimia nervosa, and long-term associations were found between overprotective mothers and poor self-esteem.The findings in this thesis reveal that bullying in childhood is far from harmless and may have destructive long-term consequences.
Has parts
Fosse, Gunilla Klensmeden; Holen, Are. Childhood environment of adult psychiatric outpatients in Norway having been bullied in school. Child Abuse & Neglect. 26(2): 129-137, 2002.Fosse, Gunilla Klensmeden; Holen, Are. Cohabitation, Education, and Occupation of Psychiatric Outpatients Bullied as Children. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 192(5): 385-288, 2004.
Fosse, Gunilla Klensmeden; Holen, Are. Reported Maltreatment in Childhood in Relation to the Personality Features of Norwegian Adult Psychiatric Outpatients. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease. 195(1): 79-82, 2007.
Fosse, Gunilla Klensmeden; Holen, Are. Childhood maltreatment in adult female psychiatric outpatients with eating disorders. Eating Behaviors. 7: 404-409, 2006.