Verbal Maltreatment in Childhood and Experiences of Bullying in Young Adulthood

Abstract

This cross-sectional study examined whether verbal abuse in childhood was associated with bullying victimization in young adulthood while controlling for physical and sexual abuse by conducting a secondary analysis using data from a longitudinal birth cohort study. It was hypothesized that: (1) Childhood verbal maltreatment would be a risk factor for the experience of bullying in young adulthood, (2) Physical and sexual abuse would increase the liklihood for bullying victimization, and (3) Individuals subjected to verbal abuse would be more at risk for bullying regardless of whether they also experienced physical and/or sexual maltreatment in childhood. This study assessed existing participant data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort study. The current cross-sectional study specifically analyzed responses to retrospective questions pertaining to childhood verbal, physical, and sexual abuse before 11 years of age from adult family members (except sexual abuse included all adults and older children), and the expereince of bullying around 25 years of age. After omitting participants with missing relevant datapoints, an analytic sample of 2,985 individuals (n = 2,985) was assessed using binary logistic regression. The results indicated that verbal abuse was a significant risk factor for being bullied in young adulthood before controlling for physical and sexual abuse in support of hypothesis one (b = .872, SE = .116, Wald χ² = 56.788, p .001, OR = 2.391, 95% CI [1.906, 3.000]). Physical (b = 1.165, SE = .171, Wald χ² = 46.540, p .001, OR = 3.206, 95% CI [2.294, 4.48]) and sexual maltreatment (b = .780, SE = .248, Wald χ² = 9.914, p = .002, OR = 2.180, 95% CI [1.342, 3.542]) also appeared to significantly increase the liklihood for the experience of bullying consistent with hypothesis two. As presumed in hypothesis three, the results indicated that verbal abuse was a significant risk factor when controlling for physical and sexual maltreatment (b = .692, SE = .124, Wald χ² = 30.933, p .001, OR = 1.998, 95% CI [1.566, 2.550]). Limitations include concerns with power, the study was cross-sectional and retrospective, and self-reporting was utilized. However, overall verbal abuse in childhood appeared to increase in the likelihood of bullying victimization in young adulthood (as did physical and sexual maltreatment) regardless of whether individuals also experienced physical and/or sexual abuse.