A recent column about bullying prevention impacting later substance use disorder raises all sorts of interesting questions about the connections between adolescent emotions and tendencies toward substance abuse.

We’ve recently covered a spate of brain imaging studies that indicate a correlation between childhood impulsivity and adult substance abuse. Children with diminished executive control and shorter delay discounting find it more difficult later in life to resist urges to indulge in addictive substances such as nicotine, alcohol, ultra-processed foods, THC, and other addictive drugs. Chronic use of these substances also wears down the brain’s natural resistance to self-harm.

The column on bullying prevention, which ran in the Colorado County Citizen newspaper, was written by Marie Garceau, a substance abuse counselor at DRS (Drug Rehabilitation Services), operators of “one of the largest and most complete directories of drug and alcohol rehabilitation services in the US, accessible completely free of charge.” Garceau cites a variety of statistics on the prevalence of bullying:

• According to PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, one in five students report being bullied.

• According to the American Osteopathic Association, 31% of Americans report being bullied as adults.

Garceau does not cite any studies that correlate bullying with substance use disorder. Instead, she makes the rather sweeping statement:

The effects of bullying are serious because it increases the risk of depression, anxiety, substance use, and even suicidal ideation.

There are many studies available on bullying and substance use disorder, and the results are not what you might expect. Yes, there is a slight increase in substance use disorder for people who are or were bullied compared with those who report they were not bullied. However, there is a significant increase in substance use disorder for the perpetrators of bullying — the bullies themselves.

A 2015 study in Victims & Offenders: An International Journal of Evidence-based Research, Policy, and Practice, concluded, “Being bullied in childhood appears to have only minor effects on the onset of adolescent substance use.” The effects are more pronounced if the bullying is more severe.

A more recent meta-analysis in the journal Pediatrics involving 215 studies and 28,477 participants found:

Bullying perpetration was associated positively with all types of substance use (drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and general). The results for combined bullying-victimization were more mixed, with generally weaker effects.

In other words, there’s a strong correlation between being a bully and later substance use and only a weak correlation between being bullied and later substance use. Efforts at anti-bullying may be more important for the bullies than for their victims. Teaching anger management and conflict resolution skills at an early age can pay big dividends later in life.

A Canadian study came to the same conclusion: Bullying is a “unique risk factor” for frequent substance use, and victimization is an “indirect risk factor.” In countries that have national healthcare, it’s possible to use data sets that dwarf American studies. This survey in Canada tracked nearly 9,000 adolescents nationwide. The study concluded:

Youth who bully others are vulnerable to frequent substance use across peer and neighbourhood contexts.

In other words, controlling for factors of the relative wealth or poverty of where students grew up, bullies in every area and peer group were found to have elevated risks of substance use, which is not true of their victims. Another study from Canada in the Journal of Adolescent Health came to a similar conclusion: “Associations between bullying perpetration and substance use appear to be bidirectional.” Meaning that substance use increases bullying behavior just as bullying behavior increases substance use.

While Marie Glaceau’s column on the importance of anti-bullying initiatives is welcome, her emphasis on victims needs to be broadened to concern for the perpetrators. Intervening to help the perpetrators of bullying calm themselves down should reduce the frequency and severity of incidents, helping both the bully and their victims.

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published November 21, 2024.

Sources:

“Bullying prevention can save someone from drug addiction,” Colorado County Citizen, October 9, 2024.

“Exploring the Link Between Being Bullied and Adolescent Substance Use,” Victims & Offenders: An International Journal of Evidence-based Research, Policy, and Practice, October 2015.

“Childhood and Adolescent Bullying Perpetration and Later Substance Use: A Meta-analysis,” Pediatrics, March 2021.

“Bullying involvement and adolescent substance use: A multilevel investigation of individual and neighbourhood risk factors,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence, September 2017.

“Mutual Influences on Bullying Perpetration and Substance Use Among Adolescents in the United States,” Journal of Adolescent Health, September 2020.

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