The association between bullying and eating disorders: A case–control study

Objective Childhood bullying is associated with a range of adverse mental health outcomes, and here we investigated the association between bullying exposure and eating disorders (EDs). Method In this case–control study, we compared bullying history in individuals with EDs with community controls. Participants (n = 890, mean age = 29.50 ± 10.60) completed an online self‐report battery assessing bullying history and lifetime history of bulimia nervosa (BN), binge‐eating disorder (BED), and anorexia nervosa (binge‐eating/purging (AN‐BP) or restrictive (AN‐R) subtype). Logistic regressions were performed to estimate odds ratios (ORs). Results In the combined ED sample, individuals with a history of any ED were significantly more likely than controls to have experienced bullying victimization during childhood or adolescence (ORs = 1.99–3.30), particularly verbal, indirect, and digital bullying. Bullying prior to ED onset was also significantly more common than bullying within the same time frame for controls (ORs = 1.75–2.16). Further analysis showed that these effects were due to individuals with BN or BED reporting significantly more lifetime (p