TY - JOUR
T1 - Childhood bullies and victims and their risk of criminality in late adolescence
T2 - The finnish from a boy to a man study
AU - Sourander, Andre
AU - Jensen, Peter
AU - Rönning, John A.
AU - Elonheimo, Henrik
AU - Niemelä, Solja
AU - Helenius, Hans
AU - Kumpulainen, Kirsti
AU - Piha, Jorma
AU - Tamminen, Tuula
AU - Moilanen, Irma
AU - Almqvist, Fredrik
PY - 2007/6
Y1 - 2007/6
N2 - Objective: To study correlations of childhood bullying and victimization with juvenile criminality. Design: Longitudinal birth cohort study from age 8 years to ages 16 to 20 years. Setting: Population-based study from Finland. Participants: The sample comprised 2551 boys (86.6% of the original birth cohort) with complete information about bullying and victimization from parents, teachers, and children at age 8 years. Main Outcome Measure: Information about criminal offenses from the National Police Register at ages 16 to 20 years. Results: Frequent bullies and those who frequently both bullied and were bullied (8.8% of the sample) were responsible for 33.0% of all juvenile crimes during the 4-year study period. Frequent bully-only status predicted both occasional and repeated offending, whereas bully-victim status predicted repeated offending. Bullying predicted most types of crime (violence, property, drunk driving, and traffic offenses) when controlled with parental education level. However, frequent bullies or victims without a high level of psychiatric symptoms were not at an elevated risk for later criminality. Conclusions: Boys who frequently bully are at risk for later criminality when this condition is accompanied by a high level of psychiatric symptoms. Frequent bullies should be actively screened for psychiatric problems.
AB - Objective: To study correlations of childhood bullying and victimization with juvenile criminality. Design: Longitudinal birth cohort study from age 8 years to ages 16 to 20 years. Setting: Population-based study from Finland. Participants: The sample comprised 2551 boys (86.6% of the original birth cohort) with complete information about bullying and victimization from parents, teachers, and children at age 8 years. Main Outcome Measure: Information about criminal offenses from the National Police Register at ages 16 to 20 years. Results: Frequent bullies and those who frequently both bullied and were bullied (8.8% of the sample) were responsible for 33.0% of all juvenile crimes during the 4-year study period. Frequent bully-only status predicted both occasional and repeated offending, whereas bully-victim status predicted repeated offending. Bullying predicted most types of crime (violence, property, drunk driving, and traffic offenses) when controlled with parental education level. However, frequent bullies or victims without a high level of psychiatric symptoms were not at an elevated risk for later criminality. Conclusions: Boys who frequently bully are at risk for later criminality when this condition is accompanied by a high level of psychiatric symptoms. Frequent bullies should be actively screened for psychiatric problems.
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U2 - 10.1001/archpedi.161.6.546
DO - 10.1001/archpedi.161.6.546
M3 - Article
C2 - 17548758
AN - SCOPUS:34249942433
SN - 1072-4710
VL - 161
SP - 546
EP - 552
JO - Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
JF - Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
IS - 6
ER -