The Effects of Bullying on Mental Health in Adolescents with Neurological Conditions

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Courtney Foster (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Approximately one out of five children experience bullying at some point throughout their educational career. Students who experience bullying are at increased risk for social problems, sleep difficulties, anxiety, and depression compared to students who do not experience bullying. Few studies have compared levels of bullying among youth with different kinds of physical illnesses or disabilities. A suggested theory on why physical illness may place children with chronic illness at risk for bullying is the spotlight effect, which suggests that, when youth feel that their peers continuously think about their diagnoses, they are more likely to self-isolate leading to increased rates of bullying experienced. The purpose of this study was to investigate bullying and mental health in youth with neurological conditions and how this relationship is affected by the perceived visibility of the diagnosis or the spotlight effect. Participants were 33 children ages 11 to 17 years who receive care for a neurological condition (epilepsy, headaches/migraines, and tics/Tourette’s) at the ECU Physicians Neurological Clinic. Approximately two-thirds of the children surveyed reported being a victim of bullying at school over the past few months. However, group differences between the three neurological conditions and rate of bully victimization were not significant. Further, youth with bully victimization did not experience higher rates of internalizing symptoms when compared to those who were not victims of bullying. There were no differences in rates of bully victimization for middle versus high school students. Youth’s perceived visibility of their diagnosis, but not the spotlight effect, was a significant moderator of the relationship between internalizing symptoms and bully victimization. Due to the higher-than-average rates of bullying in the youth with neurological conditions collected in this study, research is needed to investigate the role of bullying on the mental health in these youth.

Additional Information

Publication

Dissertation

Language: English

Date: 2023

Subjects

neurological conditions, pediatrics, chronic illness, bullying, mental health

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