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Consequences of Childhood Bullying on Mental Health and Relationships for Young Adults

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Consequences of Childhood Bullying on Mental Health and Relationships for Young Adults

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“Results suggest significant mental and physical health outcomes as well as relationship concerns based on bullying during childhood. These aftereffects are indicative of impact on adult development as the young adults struggled with self-esteem, body image problems, eating disorders, general anxiety, social anxiety, and depression. A small percentage experienced post-traumatic stress symptoms attributable to past bullying victimization. ”(deLara)

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Exclusion and rejection are fundamental components of bullying interactions. As part of being a victim of bullying, the victim often experiences exclusion or rejection. The data suggest that for a certain percentage of individuals, bullying can lead to persistent state anxiety, social anxiety, recurrent sadness, depression, shame, anger, revenge fantasies, suicide, and PTSD. An analysis of data on mental health problems showed that 22% of people described state anxiety and 37% developed social anxiety in childhood. A quarter of those with state anxiety described themselves as "anxious" in adulthood.

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Consequences of weight-based bullying include appearance discomfort, shame, persistent and often distorted body image issues, and the development of eating pathology. Weight is at the core of many childhood bullying behaviors, and this includes eating disorders, weight and body image issues. Young adults, who were bullied in any way (too heavy, too thin, too tall, too short) as children because of their body or weight, continue to have body image issues, are anorexic, bulimic, or exhibit distorted eating patterns.

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Relationship damage exists in friendships and intimate partner or marital relationships. Involvement in childhood bullying may impede the willingness or ability to fully participate in adult relationships. Trust is a prominent feature. Trust in other people, trust in friendships, and the ability to trust significant others was adversely affected. Feelings of helplessness as a child triggered a chronic lack of trust in others. Some indicated that they developed lifelong fears and severe prejudices as a result of being abused by certain groups during their school years.

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Counseling or therapy may be necessary. It may be especially necessary for youth with depression, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, or in abusive relationships. Educators and other school staff have the opportunity and responsibility to find ways to reduce bullying. Individual or family therapy, or a support group of others who have been bullied, can be very useful in mitigating the effects of childhood bullying.

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From an evolutionary perspective, humans have developed behaviors that enhance their chances of survival and reproduction. If bullying is beneficial, then either the behavior itself or the traits it embodies should contribute to these goals. Thus, from an evolutionary perspective, bullying behavior contributes to the establishment of social hierarchies, similar to the hierarchical structures observed in other species. These hierarchical structures help mitigate ongoing power struggles and promote group stability. Notably, research has shown that individuals who engage in bullying behavior have the smallest increase in C-reactive protein, a systemic marker of inflammation, during the transition from childhood to early adulthood. This suggests that bullies may enjoy better long-term physical health outcomes compared to victims and those who have not experienced bullying.

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"Bullies had more children when assessed later in adulthood, suggesting greater reproductive success and especially female bullying perpetrators engaged in sexual activity at an earlier age which is considered reproductively beneficial but developmentally a risk."(Kretschmer et al., “Benefits of Bullying? A Test of the Evolutionary Hypothesis in Three Cohorts”)

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Victims of bullying receive significant impacts in terms of both mental and physical health. Bullying perpetrators are also usually affected by negative outcomes, which allow bullies to develop wrong ways of doing things that can affect social relationships later on.

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The theoretical model consists of four stages

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The theoretical model consists of four stages

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Stage 1 - Childhood Bullying Incident

Stage 2 - Victim's Perceived Reaction to the Incident

Stage 3 - Absolute Consequences

Stage 4 - Impact on Young People's Development

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Bullies experience poorer health in midlife

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Bullies experience poorer health in midlife

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For example, bullies may go on to attack coworkers and partners, which can jeopardize employment, friendships, and relationships, ultimately leading to an unhappy and unhealthy adulthood.

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Bullies are usually higher in the social hierarchy and are more likely to date, have sex, and report more partners during adolescence and early adulthood.