A recent study led by researchers at Northwestern University and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago has found that adolescents who feel connected at school are less likely to experience depression linked to bullying.
The research, published August 14 in BMC Public Health, is distinct from earlier studies because it examined the cumulative effects of bullying by surveying youth at two points: age 9 and again at age 15. This approach allowed the scientists to evaluate how repeated experiences with bullying over time affect mental health.
“Our findings indicate that kids who were bullied at both ages 9 and 15 had the highest levels of anxiety and depression,” said corresponding author Tiwaloluwa Ajibewan, assistant professor of preventive medicine (epidemiology) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Taken together, our results point in part to the compounding harm of bullying on mental health outcomes.”
Senior author Norrina Allen, vice chair for research in the department of preventive medicine at Feinberg, emphasized the long-term impact of these experiences. “Childhood experiences shape health and well-being for a lifetime,” Allen said. “This study shows us the harms of bullying can accumulate and affect both mental and physical health, but that feeling connected at school can help protect against these lasting effects. As a parent, this is especially timely with the start of a new school year — every child deserves to begin the year feeling safe, supported, and included."
The study involved more than 2,100 teens around age 15, with an even distribution between boys and girls and about half identifying as non-Hispanic Black. The participants were grouped based on their reported experiences with bullying: 39% had never been bullied; 43% had been bullied at age 9; 6% had been bullied at age 15; and 12% reported long-term bullying across both periods.
Any experience with bullying was linked to higher anxiety scores among teens. Those who experienced bullying during adolescence or over a longer period had the highest levels of anxiety. Depression was most clearly associated with adolescent or long-term bullying rather than incidents limited to childhood.
Feeling connected within their school environment—measured by perceptions of inclusiveness, closeness, happiness, and safety—helped lessen the impact of recent bullying on depression symptoms but did not appear to influence anxiety or buffer against distress from earlier or cumulative victimization.
“We found that peer bullying during adolescence was associated with higher anxiety and depression symptoms than peer bullying experiences during childhood,” said co-author Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, assistant professor of pediatrics and medical social sciences at Feinberg and pediatrician and researcher at Lurie Children’s Hospital.
“This finding might be due in part to the heightened social sensitivity of adolescents to their peers and the significant influence of peer relationships among teenagers than children. Likewise, we saw that school connectedness was more protective against depression in teens than in younger children.”
The authors suggest teachers can foster supportive environments by encouraging students to learn about each other and use collaborative projects so groups work together.
“Despite the associations we observed with bullying and anxiety and depression, our finding with school connectedness speaks to the importance of creating caring and supportive learning environments for students,” Abijewa said. “Environments where students learn to work together, establish supportive relationships and are provided with opportunities to practice conflict resolution and respect all help to reinforce feelings of belonging.”
Participation in extracurricular activities did not appear to reduce mental health impacts from bullying among teens studied.
“Although our data shows that bullying was more common during childhood, adolescence emerged as the more vulnerable period in terms of psychological distress,” Heard-Garris said. “Future studies should consider whether the influences of peer bullying in adolescence persist in early, middle and late adulthood.”
Other Northwestern authors include Kiarri Kershaw, Mercedes Carnethon, Lauren Beach, and Norrina Allen.
Funding came from grants provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD36916, R01HD39135, R01HD40421), National Heart Lung Blood Institute (K01HL147995), both under National Institutes of Health support as well as private foundations.