Long-term outcomes of passive bullying during childhood: Suicide attempts, victimization and offending

The long-term effects of bullying at elementary school have attracted increasing interest in recent years. The present study is based on a cross-sectional survey of over 21,000 young Swiss men. The sample covered about 70 percent of the cohort of Swiss males drafted into the Army in 1997, and born in or around 1977. The instrument covered many retrospective items, including experiencing bullying before age 12 and conduct problems including violent victimization and suicide attempts in the recent past. The results show that victims of bullying during childhood are still negatively affected in young adulthood. A causal role of bullying experiences in these long-term outcomes is plausible, although alternative explanations cannot be ruled out.