The cost incurred by victims of bullying from a societal perspective: estimates based on a German online survey of adolescents
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 desi...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| In: |
European child & adolescent psychiatry
Year: 2018, Volume: 28, Issue: 4, Pages: 585-594 |
| ISSN: | 1435-165X |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00787-018-1224-y |
| Online Access: | Verlag, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-018-1224-y
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| Author Notes: | Vanessa Jantzer, Michael Schlander, Johann Haffner, Peter Parzer, Sarah Trick, Franz Resch, Michael Kaess |
| Summary: | 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. |
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| Item Description: | First Online: 17 September 2018 Gesehen am 30.01.2020 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1435-165X |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00787-018-1224-y |