Bullying as a ‘toxic stress’
Knowing that bullying is associated with high levels of CRP is important for two reasons. First, it would provide further support that childhood bullying victimisation should be considered as a toxic stress alongside other forms of abuse including child maltreatment. Second, this would provide a novel lead for identifying new targets for various types of interventions aimed at reducing problems related to the experience of being bullied in childhood.
The new findings from the longitudinal Great Smoky Mountains Study of 1,420 children in the US has looked at CRP levels in children involved in bullying as victims, bullies and bully-victims (participants who both bully others and were also bullied). The authors, led by William E. Copeland at Duke University Medical Center, tested whether study participants who were bullied between the age of nine and 16 showed high levels of CRP in adolescence, and also later in early adulthood.
Their results indicate that the participants who experienced several exposures to bullying had higher levels of CRP compared to participants who were not involved in bullying – either as victims, bullies or bully-victims.
These associations remained even after taking into account the participants' prior CRP level and variables associated with CRP levels such as body mass index, medication and alcohol use. They also took into account variables linked to being involved in bullying, including maltreatment, family dysfunction, and anxiety disorders.