Department of Psychiatry II, Ulm University and BKH Günzburg, Ulm, Germany.
Personal Social Services Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A2AE, UK.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2020 Jan;55(1):81-88. doi: 10.1007/s00127-019-01743-5. Epub 2019 Jul 19.
Previous research found sustained high levels of mental health service use among adults who experienced bullying victimization during childhood. This could be due to increased psychopathology among this group, but other factors, such as self-perception as having a mental health problem, might contribute to increased service use. Additionally, the relationship between informal help-seeking for mental health problems and bullying victimization is incompletely understood.
The present study examined associations between the frequency of bullying victimization and both formal service use and informal help-seeking for mental health problems independent from psychopathology. Data on bullying victimization, service use, informal help-seeking for mental health problems, psychopathology, and self-labelling as a person with mental illness were collected among 422 young people aged 13-22 years.
In logistic regression models, controlling for past and current psychopathology and using no bullying victimization as the reference category, we identified a greater likelihood of mental health service use among persons who experienced frequent bullying victimization, as well as a greater likelihood of seeking informal help among persons who experienced occasional victimization. Increased self-identification as a person with mental illness completely mediated the positive association between frequent bullying victimization and mental health service use.
Our findings suggest that services to support persons who experienced frequent bullying victimization should focus on improving empowerment and self-perception. Additionally, there might be unserved need for formal support among those who experienced occasional bullying victimization.
先前的研究发现，在儿童时期遭受欺凌的成年人中，心理健康服务的使用持续处于较高水平。这可能是由于该群体的精神病理学增加，但其他因素，如自我认知有心理健康问题，也可能导致服务使用增加。此外，寻求非正式心理健康帮助与欺凌受害之间的关系尚未完全了解。
本研究独立于精神病理学，检查了欺凌受害频率与正式服务使用和非正式寻求心理健康帮助之间的关联。在 422 名 13-22 岁的年轻人中收集了关于欺凌受害、服务使用、非正式寻求心理健康帮助、精神病理学以及自我标记为患有精神疾病的信息。
在逻辑回归模型中，控制过去和当前的精神病理学，并将没有欺凌受害作为参考类别，我们发现，与没有经历过欺凌受害的人相比，经历过频繁欺凌受害的人更有可能使用心理健康服务，而经历过偶尔受害的人更有可能寻求非正式帮助。自我认同为患有精神疾病的人完全解释了频繁欺凌受害与心理健康服务使用之间的正相关关系。
我们的研究结果表明，支持频繁遭受欺凌的人的服务应重点提高他们的赋权感和自我认知。此外，偶尔遭受欺凌的人可能存在未得到满足的对正式支持的需求。
