Grant: Project Grant

Fifteen percent of Canadian youth have serious mental health problems, a leading cause of health-related burden for youth, and the leading cause of disability for adults worldwide. Most adult mental health problems begin in childhood and thus reducing the burden of illness in childhood should have a notably positive impact on adult mental health. The proposed study focuses on reducing mental health problems by studying one important and often neglected root cause- bullying. Bullying is a systematic abuse of power occurring at an alarming rate, with 35% of Canadian youth reporting being bullied occasionally and 10% reporting being bullied every day. Researchers and clinicians are paying close attention to this problem given evidence pointing to a causal relation between being bullied and subsequent mental health problems that continue long after the abuse has stopped. In a large cohort (N > 500) of Ontarians assessed yearly from age 10 until age 18, we will examine the long-term impact of bullying on adult mental health by assessing these youth until they are 23. We also examine how bullying in childhood affects two other important areas of their functioning- academic achievement across childhood to adulthood and adult functional outcomes including financial (e.g., keeping a job), social (e.g., early parenthood, peer and family relationships), and legal (e.g., criminal activity) outcomes. Establishing the time sequence of bullying and resulting outcomes is critical to help guide clinical intervention and prevention. Without this strong scientific knowledge, we are left with non-systematic and occasionally damaging approaches to prevention and intervention. By examining the chronological sequence between peer victimization and young adult outcomes we will be able to make much needed definitive statements about the long-term impact of bullying that will enable stakeholders to create evidence-based programs, interventions, and knowledge mobilization campaigns.