Peer Bullying, Epigenetics, and Suicidal Risk: Prospective Associations

Peer and bullying victimization refer to the repeated experience of being the target of aggressive behavior, such as being pushed or hit, called names, made fun of, or being excluded from a group. It is often characterized by an imbalance of power between the perpetrator and the victim. Research has shown that bullying victimization in childhood has been linked with an increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, but no study has yet explored the possibility of an increased risk of dying by suicide.

To explore this gap, Dr. Marie-Claude Geoffroy and her team conducted a 50-year nationwide cohort study using data from the 1958 British Birth Cohort, which is an ongoing longitudinal study of 17,638 individuals born within one week of each other in March 1958. Dr. Geoffroy conducted analyses on 14,946 individuals whose mothers reported bullying victimization for their children at ages 7 and 11. Of the subgroup, 55 people had died by suicide between the ages of 18-52 years old. Though the effect was small, having been bullied was associated with death by suicide when other factors weren’t considered. It’s unclear if this effect would hold with more information, but the importance of implementing suicide prevention efforts in childhood is supported by these findings.

Citation: Geoffroy, M. C., Arseneault, L., Girard, A., Ouellet-Morin, I., & Power, C. (2023). Association of childhood bullying victimisation with suicide deaths: findings from a 50-year nationwide cohort study. Psychological medicine, 53(9), 4152–4159. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291722000836