Abstract
Background
Bullying as a specific subtype of adverse life events is a major risk factor for poor mental health. Although many questionnaires on bullying are available, so far none covers bullying retrospectively throughout school and working life. To close this gap, the Bullying Scale for Adults (BSA) was designed.
Methods
Based on data of 622 participants from five European countries collected in the prospective multicenter Personalized Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management (PRONIA) study, we investigated whether the BSA is a reliable and valid measurement for bullying and whether there is a difference across different diagnostic groups of early mental disorders (recent onset depressive/ psychotic patients, patients at clinical high-risk of psychosis) and healthy controls.
Results
Bullying experiences were significantly less frequent in healthy controls than in patient groups, with no significant differences between the three clinical groups. The BSA exhibited a high item scale discrimination (r > .3) and very good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .93). Four factors were identified: 1. Sexual harassment, 2. Emotional Abuse, 3. Physical Abuse, 4. Problems at school. The highly significant correlation between bullying, and childhood adversities and trauma (r = .645, p < .001) indicated good concurrent validity.
Discussion
The BSA is the first validated questionnaire that, in retrospective, reliably records various aspects of bullying (incl. its consequences) not only throughout childhood but also working life. It can be used to assess bullying as a transdiagnostic risk factor of mental disorders in different mental disorders, esp. psychosis and depression.
Bullying as a specific subtype of adverse life events is a major risk factor for poor mental health. Although many questionnaires on bullying are available, so far none covers bullying retrospectively throughout school and working life. To close this gap, the Bullying Scale for Adults (BSA) was designed.
Methods
Based on data of 622 participants from five European countries collected in the prospective multicenter Personalized Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management (PRONIA) study, we investigated whether the BSA is a reliable and valid measurement for bullying and whether there is a difference across different diagnostic groups of early mental disorders (recent onset depressive/ psychotic patients, patients at clinical high-risk of psychosis) and healthy controls.
Results
Bullying experiences were significantly less frequent in healthy controls than in patient groups, with no significant differences between the three clinical groups. The BSA exhibited a high item scale discrimination (r > .3) and very good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .93). Four factors were identified: 1. Sexual harassment, 2. Emotional Abuse, 3. Physical Abuse, 4. Problems at school. The highly significant correlation between bullying, and childhood adversities and trauma (r = .645, p < .001) indicated good concurrent validity.
Discussion
The BSA is the first validated questionnaire that, in retrospective, reliably records various aspects of bullying (incl. its consequences) not only throughout childhood but also working life. It can be used to assess bullying as a transdiagnostic risk factor of mental disorders in different mental disorders, esp. psychosis and depression.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 88-97 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Psychiatric Research |
| Volume | 129 |
| Early online date | 11 May 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Funder
PRONIA is a Collaborative Project funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme under grant agreement n° 602152. CP was supported by NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship (628386 & 1105825) and EU-NHMRC grant (1075379). Role of Funding Sources The funding organizations stated above were not involved in the design and conduct of the study; the collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.Funding
PRONIA is a Collaborative Project funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme under grant agreement n° 602152. CP was supported by NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship (628386 & 1105825) and EU-NHMRC grant (1075379).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Health and Medical Research Council | 1075379 |
| Seventh Framework Programme | 602152 |
| National Health and Medical Research Council | 628386, 1105825 |
