Childhood bullying involvement predicts low-grade systemic inflammation into adulthood

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: William E. Copeland, Duke University; Dieter Wolke, University of Warwick; Suzet Tanya Lereya, University of Warwick; Lilly Shanahan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Carol Worthman, Emory University; E. Jane Costello, Duke University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-05-27
• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1323641111
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• ISSN: 0027-8424
• Volume: 111
• Issue: 21
• Start Page: 7570
• End Page: 7575
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH63970, MH63671, MH48085, and MH080230), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA/MH11301 and DA023026), the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (Early Career Award to W.E.C.), the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Economic and Social Research Council in the United Kingdom (ES/K003593/1).
• Keywords: social functioning; epidemiology; risk factor; stress; longitudinal

Abstract

Bullying is a common childhood experience that involves repeated mistreatment to improve or maintain one’s status. Victims display long-term social, psychological, and health consequences, whereas bullies display minimal ill effects. The aim of this study is to test how this adverse social experience is biologically embedded to affect short- or long-term levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of low-grade systemic inflammation. The prospective population-based Great Smoky Mountains Study (n = 1,420), with up to nine waves of data per subject, was used, covering childhood/adolescence (ages 9–16) and young adulthood (ages 19 and 21). Structured interviews were used to assess bullying involvement and relevant covariates at all childhood/adolescent observations. Blood spots were collected at each observation and assayed for CRP levels. During childhood and adolescence, the number of waves at which the child was bullied predicted increasing levels of CRP. Although CRP levels rose for all participants from childhood into adulthood, being bullied predicted greater increases in CRP levels, whereas bullying others predicted lower increases in CRP compared with those uninvolved in bullying. This pattern was robust, controlling for body mass index, substance use, physical and mental health status, and exposures to other childhood psychosocial adversities. A child’s role in bullying may serve as either a risk or a protective factor for adult low-grade inflammation, independent of other factors. Inflammation is a physiological response that mediates the effects of both social adversity and dominance on decreases in health.