Adverse childhood experiences and bullying: findings from the Growing Up in Scotland study

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are defined as stressful or traumatic events occurring within a child’s family environment during their first 18 years of life (Walsh, 2020). ACEs have been linked to a range of negative physical and mental health outcomes in childhood and adulthood including depression and poorer self-rated health (Marryat & Frank, 2019). They have also been associated with risky lifestyle behaviours such as alcohol and drug use, smoking, and a higher number of sexual partners (Marryat & Frank, 2019). However, research examining the associations between exposure to adverse childhood experiences in childhood and bullying experiences in adolescence is sparse. To address this gap, data from the first 10 sweeps of the Growing Up in Scotland longitudinal study was used to evaluate the relationship between 7 different adverse childhood experiences and the risk of being bullied or engaging in bullying others at age 14. A cumulative incidence of ACEs was derived by summing the ACEs present for each child across the study period. Overall, our findings illustrate that the more someone is exposed to childhood adversities the higher the risk of them either engaging in or experiencing bullying in mid-adolescence. More adversity is a stronger predictor of bullying perpetration than victimisation. This highlights the importance of understanding bullying perpetration as a maladaptive way of managing life stressors.