Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jun 23:14:1875-1885.
doi: 10.2147/JPR.S313470. eCollection 2021.

A Systematic Review of the Prospective Relationship Between Bullying Victimization and Pain

Teresa J Marin  1 , Jill A Hayden  2 , Rebecca Lewinson  1 , Quenby Mahood  3 , Debra Pepler  1 , Joel Katz  1
Affiliations
Review

A Systematic Review of the Prospective Relationship Between Bullying Victimization and Pain

Teresa J Marin et al. J Pain Res. .

Abstract

Objective: This systematic review synthesized evidence about the relationship between childhood bullying victimization and chronic pain, with a focus on the temporal nature of the relationship and moderating factors, such as the type and intensity of victimization.

Method: We included prospective cohort studies that examined the relationship between childhood bullying victimization and pain measured at least three months later. We conducted electronic searches of Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL up to June 30, 2019. Standard methodological procedures consistent with Cochrane reviews of prognosis studies were used (PROSPERO record ID 133146).

Results: We included four longitudinal studies (6275 participants) in this review. The mean age of participants at baseline ranged from 10 to 14 years and the follow-up periods ranged from 6 months to 12 years. Two of the four studies were judged as having high risk of bias. Meta-analysis of results from four studies revealed increased risk of pain among victimized compared to non-victimized youth (adjusted OR [95% CI] = 1.45 [1.06-1.97], but the effect size was small and not clinically important. Only one study examined the inverse association (ie, from pain to victimization), and there was not enough evidence to conduct a meaningful analysis of the proposed moderators.

Conclusions: Study findings were limited by few prospective studies. Meta-analytic findings suggested that victimization may incur some risk for later pain, although the evidence was judged to be very low quality. High-quality studies that measure and report the nuances of bullying victimization are needed to test the proposed moderator models.

Keywords: bullying; chronic pain; meta-analysis; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The current article is part of the PhD dissertation of the lead author. The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot depicting the results of a random-effects meta-analysis of longitudinal studies investigating the association between baseline bullying victimization and pain at follow-up, adjusted for potential confounders.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Arseneault L. Annual research review: the persistent and pervasive impact of being bullied in childhood and adolescence: implications for policy and practice. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2018;59:405–421. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12841 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bogart LM, Elliott MN, Klein DJ, et al. Peer victimization in fifth grade and health in tenth grade. Pediatrics. 2014;133:440. doi:10.1542/peds.2013-3510 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Koyanagi A, Oh H, Carvalho AF, et al. Bullying victimization and suicide attempt among adolescents aged 12–15 years from 48 countries. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2019;58(907–918):e4. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2018.10.018 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zwierzynska K, Wolke D, Lereya TS. Peer victimization in childhood and internalizing problems in adolescence: a prospective longitudinal study. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2013;41:309–323. doi:10.1007/s10802-012-9678-8 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lereya ST, Copeland WE, Costello EJ, Wolke D. Adult mental health consequences of peer bullying and maltreatment in childhood: two cohorts in two countries. Lancet Psychiatry. 2015;2:524–531. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00165-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources