Bullied Children May be at Risk of Long-Lasting Health Consequences

Bullying may have some more long-term effects than you might think. Scientists have found that bullied children may experience chronic, systemic inflammation that persists into adulthood while bullies may actually reap health benefits of increasing their social status.

"Our findings look at the biological consequences of bullying, and by studying a marker of inflammation, provide a potential mechanism for how this social interaction can affect later health functioning," said William E. Copeland, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Among the victims of bullying, there seems to be some impact on health status in adulthood. In this study, we asked whether childhood bullying can get 'under the skin' to affect physical health."

In order to find that out, the researchers examined data from a population-based study that gathered information on 1,420 individuals for more than 20 years. These individuals were randomly selected to participate in the study and were interviewed throughout childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Among other things, they were asked about their experiences with bullying. The scientists also measured C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker a low-grade inflammation and a risk factor for health problems, from blood samples.

"CRP levels are affected by a variety of stressors, including poor nutrition, lack of sleep and infection, but we've found that they are also related to psychosocial factors," said Copeland in a news release. "By controlling for participants' pre-existing CRP levels, even before involvement in bullying, we get a clearer understanding of how bullying could change the trajectory of CRP levels."

So what did they find? It turns out that young adults who had been bullies and victims as children had CRP levels similar to those who were not involved in bullying. That said, bullies had the lowest CRP levels and victims had much higher CRP levels as adults.

"Our study found that a child's role in bullying can serve as either a risk or a protective factor for low-grad inflammation," said Copeland in a news release. "Enhanced social status seems to have a biological advantage. However, there are ways children can experience social success aside from bullying others."

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.