Childhood environment of adult psychiatric outpatients in Norway having been bullied in school.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to contrast the childhood environment of adult psychiatric outpatients reporting to have been bullied at school with those who were not.

METHOD: One-hundred-sixty consecutive adult outpatients from a psychiatric clinic in Norway completed self-administered questionnaires about their psychosocial environment during childhood and adolescence. The frequency of being bullied was measured with an inventory used in schools. Also, the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) were used.

RESULTS

Men who were bullied in childhood tended to grow up without biological fathers. Women who were bullied scored significantly lower on Father Care on the PBI and significantly higher on Emotional Neglect, Emotional and Physical Abuse and Physical Neglect on CTQ than those who weren't.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that to be bullied in school years is associated with characteristic psychosocial features in the environment of early childhood and adolescence.