A new study recently published in Child Psychiatry and Human Development looked at risk factors for bullying in adolescents in the United States.
“The goal of our study was to examine which factors were most influential in increasing risk of being exposed to or involved in bullying among adolescents aged 12-17 years old,” study author Lea Sacca told us. « Specifically, we wanted to see whether social determinants including housing instability, food insecurity, access to healthcare services and whether parental determinants, most importantly caregiver mental health, increased the risk of having an adolescent child being bullied or bullying others.”
The researchers also wanted to explore whether having an adolescent with pre-existing health conditions such as being overweight, having an autoimmune disease, having a learning disability, or having a mental health condition increased their risk of experiencing bullying. The research team was hoping to find out significant associations between those potential risk factors and bullying others or being bullied.
“With the ongoing U.S. reported increasing trends in adolescent bullying rates, we did enter the study with several guiding hypotheses based on prior literature and guided by the Socio-Ecological Model, which reinforces the idea that bullying is not driven by a single factor but rather by overlapping individual, family, and social influences,” Sacca told us. « Specifically, we anticipated that adolescents with pre-existing mental health conditions (such as anxiety, depression, ADHD), physical health differences (including being overweight or having chronic conditions), and social challenges (like difficulty making friends) would have higher odds of being bullied.”
Similarly, the researchers also hypothesized that poorer caregiver mental health and adverse social determinants such as financial strain, food insecurity, or housing instability would be significantly associated with both bullying victimization and perpetration.
“We chose this topic because bullying remains highly prevalent among U.S. adolescents and continues to have serious short- and long-term mental, physical, and social consequences,” Sacca told us. “However, despite its severe repercussions, very few U.S.-based studies have simultaneously examined adolescent health conditions, caregiver factors, and social determinants of health as risk factors for bullying.”
The researchers aimed to address this gap in the literature and generate evidence to inform future health promotion and evidence-based interventions that not only improve awareness on the consequences of bullying but also guide the development and implementation of effective policies to prevent recurrence of this phenomenon.
The research team tested their hypotheses using data from the 2022–2023 National Survey of Children’s Health, focusing on adolescents aged 12–17 years. Guided by the Social–Ecological Model, they examined individual-level factors (such as mental and physical health conditions), family-level factors (including caregiver mental health and adverse childhood experiences), and social-level factors (like difficulty making friends and nativity).
“We conducted descriptive analyses, bivariate chi-square tests, and multivariable logistic regression models to assess associations with both bullying victimization and perpetration,” Sacca told us.
The researchers found that bullying was very common in the national sample size used for the purpose of this study. It was seen that over one-third of adolescents reported being bullied, and more than 13% reported bullying others. Adolescents who were overweight, had autoimmune conditions, mental health diagnoses (anxiety, depression, ADHD), learning disabilities, or difficulty making friends had significantly higher odds of being bullied. Many of these same factors were also associated with bullying others. Additionally, caregiver mental health challenges, financial strain, housing instability, and exposure to adverse childhood experiences were strongly associated with both victimization and perpetration.
“What was striking was the overlap between risk factors for being bullied and bullying others highlighted how interconnected these experiences are, along with the consistency and strength of the observed associations,” Sacca told us. “Additionally, the main result we wanted to highlight is that bullying does extend beyond the school environment. Hence, this reinforces the importance of increasing awareness on the importance of improving, managing, and addressing parental mental health issues and other social determinants of health to mitigate the impact of these factors on the occurrence of bullying in adolescents.”
Going forward, Sacca believes the study shows the critical need for effective strategies to prevent bullying, not just at the student-level, but also at the interpersonal (family), organizational (school), and policy level.
« Policymakers should prioritize multi-level, evidence-based approaches that incorporate mental health support, caregiver engagement, and attention to broader social and economic stressors,” Sacca told us. “Bulling should be addressed as a public health issue and a human rights issue not just a behavioral problem.”