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Citation |
Jantzer V, Schlander M, Haffner J, Parzer P, Trick S, Resch F, Kaess M. Eur. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2019; 28(4): 585-594. |
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Affiliation |
University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Stöckli, Bolligenstrasse 141c, 3000, Bern 60, Switzerland. |
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Copyright |
(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group) |
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DOI |
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PMID |
30225557 |
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Abstract |
Being a victim of bullying is linked to various social, emotional and behavioral problems potentially leading to a reduced quality of life. Furthermore, victims of bullying may cause extensive costs for society, for example by an above-average need for healthcare services. The present study was designed to quantify the costs and the loss of quality of life attributable to bullying by comparing victims with a control group of non-bullied students. A cross-sectional sample of 1293 adolescents (mean age 14.07, SD = 1.36) and their parents reported on bullying victimization, quality of life (adolescents' self-report), and annual direct (medical and non-medical) as well as indirect costs (parents' self-report) from a societal perspective (all expressed in €, year 2014 and 2015). For frequent (20.6% of our sample; costs: €8461.80 p.a.) but not occasional (13.3%; costs: €2850.06) bullying, victimization was associated with significantly higher costs compared to non-bullied adolescents (costs: €3138.00; annual difference between frequently bullied students and controls: €5323.01 p.a.; p = 0.008). Cost drivers included increased direct medical costs, but mostly indirect costs caused by productivity losses of the parents. Self-reported quality of life of frequent victims was considerably reduced (T = - 10.96; p < 0.001); also occasional bullying showed significantly reduced values in global quality of life (T = - 5.73; p < 0.001). The present findings demonstrate that frequent bullying is associated with substantial cost to society and reduced quality of life of victims. This observation underscores the need for effective school-based bullying prevention and suggests a high potential of effective programs to be cost effective as well. Language: en |
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Keywords |
Bullying; Cost of illness; Economics; Healthcare; Prevention; Victimization |