Bullying Related Mortality

In the last six decades, there were at least 250 reported cases of deaths linked to bullying, hazing, or ragging, reported in English language newspapers from around the world, with most of these reports appearing in the last five to ten years. The significant increment in news reports concerning deaths associated with bullying may be the result of a rise in public awareness about the lethal aspects of this type of maltreatment.

Bullying related mortality can be caused by suicide, homicide or accidental injuries.

An urgent global public health need exists to ascertain the regional mortality prevalence related to bullying and hazing, along the lifespan.

In the last six decades, there were at least 250 cases of deaths linked to bullying, hazing, or ragging, reported in English language newspapers from around the world, with most of these reports appearing in the last five to ten years^1,2. The significant increment in news reports concerning deaths associated with bullying may be the result of a rise in public awareness about the lethal aspects of this type of maltreatment^1,2.

Bullying related mortality can be caused by suicide^3-27, homicide^2, or accidental injuries^28-34.

An urgent global public health need exists to ascertain the regional mortality prevalence related to bullying and hazing, along the lifespan^1,2.

References

1.Srabstein J. Deaths linked to bullying and hazing. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2008 Apr-Jun;20(2):235-9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18714559

2.Srabstein JC. News reports of bullying-related fatal and nonfatal injuries in the Americas. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2013 May;33(5):378-82. http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49892013000500010&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en

3. Klomek AB, Sourander A, Niemelä S, Kumpulainen K, Piha J, Tamminen T, Almqvist F, Gould MS. Childhood bullying behaviors as a risk for suicide attempts and completed suicides: a population-based birth cohort study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2009 Mar;48(3):254-61. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19169159

4. Messias E, Kindrick K, Castro J. School bullying, cyberbullying, or both: Correlates of teen suicidality in the 2011 CDC youth risk behavior survey. Compr Psychiatry. 2014 Jul;55(5):1063-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24768228

5. Kindrick K, Castro J, Messias E. Sadness, suicide, and bullying in Arkansas: results from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey -- 2011. J Ark Med Soc. 2013 Oct;110(5):90-1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24383197

6. King CA, Horwitz A, Berona J, Jiang Q. Acutely suicidal adolescents who engage in bullying behavior: 1-year trajectories. J Adolesc Health. 2013 Jul;53(1 Suppl):S43-50. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3844287/

7. Borowsky IW, Taliaferro LA, McMorris BJ. Suicidal thinking and behavior among youth involved in verbal and social bullying: risk and protective factors. J Adolesc Health. 2013 Jul;53(1 Suppl):S4-12. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23790200

8. Klomek AB, Kleinman M, Altschuler E, Marrocco F, Amakawa L, Gould MS. Suicidal adolescents' experiences with bullying perpetration and victimization during high school as risk factors for later depression and suicidality. J Adolesc Health. 2013 Jul;53(1 Suppl):S37-42. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23790199

9. Hertz MF, Donato I, Wright J. Bullying and suicide: a public health approach. J Adolesc Health. 2013 Jul;53(1 Suppl):S1-3. http://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(13)00270-X/fulltext

10. LeVasseur MT, Kelvin EA, Grosskopf NA. Intersecting identities and the association between bullying and suicide attempt among New York city youths: results from the 2009 New York city youth risk behavior survey. Am J Public Health. 2013 Jun;103(6):1082-9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23597376

11. Undheim AM, Sund AM. Involvement in bullying as predictor of suicidal ideation among 12- to 15-year-old Norwegian adolescents. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2013 Jun;22(6):357-65. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23361192

12. Bauman S, Toomey RB, Walker JL. Associations among bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide in high school students. J Adolesc. 2013 Apr;36(2):341-50. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23332116

13. Heikkilä HK, Väänänen J, Helminen M, Fröjd S, Marttunen M, Kaltiala-Heino R. Involvement in bullying and suicidal ideation in middle adolescence: a 2-year follow-up study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2013 Feb;22(2):95-102. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23053774

14. Hepburn L, Azrael D, Molnar B, Miller M. Bullying and suicidal behaviors among urban high school youth. J Adolesc Health. 2012 Jul;51(1):93-5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22727083

http://ww15. Winsper C, Lereya T, Zanarini M, Wolke D. Involvement in bullying and suicide-related behavior at 11 years: a prospective birth cohort study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2012 Mar;51(3):271-282.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22365463

16. Klomek AB, Kleinman M, Altschuler E, Marrocco F, Amakawa L, Gould MS. High school bullying as a risk for later depression and suicidality. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2011 Oct;41(5):501-16. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3188679/

17. Skapinakis P, Bellos S, Gkatsa T, Magklara K, Lewis G, Araya R, Stylianidis S, Mavreas V. The association between bullying and early stages of suicidal ideation in late adolescents in Greece. BMC Psychiatry. 2011 Feb 8;11:22. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3042930/

18. Hinduja S, Patchin JW. Bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide. Arch Suicide Res. 2010;14(3):206-21. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20658375

19. Rivers I, Noret N. Participant roles in bullying behavior and their association with thoughts of ending one's life. Crisis. 2010;31(3):143-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20573608

20. Brunstein Klomek A, Sourander A, Gould M.. The association of suicide and bullying in childhood to young adulthood: a review of cross-sectional and longitudinal research findings. Can J Psychiatry. 2010 May;55(5):282-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20482954

21. Klomek AB, Sourander A, Niemelä S, Kumpulainen K, Piha J, Tamminen T, Almqvist F, Gould MS. Childhood bullying behaviors as a risk for suicide attempts and completed suicides: a population-based birth cohort study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2009 Mar;48(3):254-61. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19169159

22. Kim YS, Leventhal BL, Koh YJ, Boyce WT. Bullying increased suicide risk: prospective study of Korean adolescents. Arch Suicide Res. 2009;13(1):15-30. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19123106

23. Kim YS, Leventhal B. Bullying and suicide. A review. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2008 Apr-Jun;20(2):133-54. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18714552

24. Klomek AB, Sourander A, Kumpulainen K, Piha J, Tamminen T, Moilanen I, Almqvist F, Gould MS. Childhood bullying as a risk for later depression and suicidal ideation among Finnish males. J Affect Disord. 2008 Jul;109(1-2):47-55. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18221788

25. Brunstein Klomek A, Marrocco F, Kleinman M, Schonfeld IS, Gould MS. Bullying, depression, and suicidality in adolescents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2007 Jan;46(1):40-9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17195728

26. Kim YS, Koh YJ, Leventhal B. School bullying and suicidal risk in Korean middle school students. Pediatrics. 2005 Feb;115(2):357-63. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15687445

27. Kaltiala-Heino R, Rimpelä M, Marttunen M, Rimpelä A, Rantanen P. Bullying, depression, and suicidal ideation in Finnish adolescents: school survey. BMJ. 1999 Aug 7;319(7206):348-51. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC28187/

28. Srabstein J, Piazza T. Public health, safety and educational risks associated with bullying behaviors in American adolescents. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2008 Apr-Jun;20(2):223-33. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18714558

29. Smith BJ, Phongsavan P, Bampton D, Peacocke G, Gilmete M, Havea D, Chey T, Bauman AE. Intentional injury reported by young people in the Federated States of Micronesia, Kingdom of Tonga and Vanuatu. BMC Public Health. 2008 Apr 30;8:145. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-8-145. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2394527/

30. Wang J, Iannotti RJ, Luk JW, Nansel TR. Co-occurrence of victimization from five subtypes of bullying: physical, verbal, social exclusion, spreading rumors, and cyber. J Pediatr Psychol. 2010 Nov;35(10):1103-12. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2980945/

31. Laflamme L, Möller J, Hallqvist J, Engström K. Peer victimization and intentional injuries: quantitative and qualitative accounts of injurious physical interactions between students. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2008 Apr-Jun;20(2):201-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18714556

32. Engström K, Hallqvist J, Möller J, Laflamme L. Do episodes of peer victimization trigger physical injury? A case-crossover study of Swedish school children. Scand J Public Health. 2005;33(1):19-25. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15764237

33. Laflamme L, Engström K, Möller J, Hallqvist J. Peer victimization during early adolescence: an injury trigger, an injury mechanism and a frequent exposure in school. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2003 Jul-Sep;15(3):267-79. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12964447

34. Laflamme L, Engström K, Möller J, Alldahl M, Hallqvist J. Bullying in the school environment: an injury risk factor? Acta Psychiatr Scand Suppl. 2002;(412):20-5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12072121