Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom;
Department of Psychology and Division of Mental Health & Wellbeing, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom;
Pediatrics. 2014 Oct;134(4):e1032-9. doi: 10.1542/peds.2014-0832. Epub 2014 Sep 8.
Being the victim of peer bullying is associated with increased risk of psychopathology, yet it is not known whether similar experiences of bullying increase risk of psychiatric disorder when the perpetrator is a sibling. We tested whether being bullied by a sibling is prospectively associated with depression, anxiety, and self-harm in early adulthood.
We conducted a longitudinal study using data from >6900 participants of a UK community-based birth cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) who reported on sibling bullying at 12 years. Our main outcome measures were depression, anxiety, and self-harm, assessed using the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised during clinic assessments when participants were 18.
Children who were frequently bullied were approximately twice as likely to have depression (odds ratio [OR] = 2.16; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-3.51; P < .001), self-harm (OR = 2.56; 95% CI, 1.63-4.02; P < .001), and anxiety (OR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.19-2.81; P < .001) as children who were not bullied by siblings. The ORs were only slightly attenuated after adjustment for a range of confounding individual, family, and peer factors. The population-attributable fractions suggested that 13.0% (95% CI, 1.0%-24.7%) of depression and 19.3% (95% CI, 7.6%-29.6%) of self-harm could be explained by being the victim of sibling bullying if these were causal relationships.
Being bullied by a sibling is a potential risk factor for depression and self-harm in early adulthood. Our results suggest that interventions designed to target sibling bullying should be devised and evaluated.
遭受同伴欺凌与精神病理学风险增加有关，但尚不清楚当欺凌者是兄弟姐妹时，类似的欺凌经历是否会增加患精神障碍的风险。我们检验了在青少年早期，被兄弟姐妹欺凌是否与抑郁、焦虑和自残行为存在前瞻性关联。
我们使用英国基于社区的出生队列（阿冯纵向研究父母和儿童）中 >6900 名参与者的数据进行了一项纵向研究，这些参与者在 12 岁时报告了兄弟姐妹欺凌的情况。我们的主要结局指标是抑郁、焦虑和自残，在参与者 18 岁时通过临床访谈量表修订版进行临床评估来评估。
经常被欺凌的儿童患抑郁的可能性大约是未被兄弟姐妹欺凌的儿童的两倍（比值比 [OR] = 2.16；95%置信区间 [CI]，1.33-3.51；P <.001）、自残（OR = 2.56；95% CI，1.63-4.02；P <.001）和焦虑（OR = 1.83；95% CI，1.19-2.81；P <.001）的可能性。在调整了一系列混杂的个体、家庭和同伴因素后，比值比略有减弱。人群归因分数表明，如果这些是因果关系，那么 13.0%（95%CI，1.0%-24.7%）的抑郁和 19.3%（95%CI，7.6%-29.6%）的自残可以归因于被兄弟姐妹欺凌。
被兄弟姐妹欺凌是青少年早期抑郁和自残的潜在危险因素。我们的研究结果表明，应设计和评估针对兄弟姐妹欺凌的干预措施。
