Is there an association between adolescent bullying victimization and substance abuse?

Bullying is endemic in the nation's schools and takes a substantial toll on its victims' physical and social-emotional well-being. We assessed the association between specific reasons for which adolescents believe that they are targeted for bullying and their rates of various types of substance use by analyzing the association between self-reported past 30-day substance use and past 30-day bullying victimization among 53,750 middle and high school students in Oregon. Our results confirm previous estimates of prevalence rates for bullying as well as modest (r < 0.20) associations between bullying victimization and substance use. However, study findings did not reveal a particular reason for bullying victimization that would place adolescents at a relatively high risk of substance use.