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Background: Research has shown a direct path between peer victimization and poor mental health outcomes. However, the impact of bullying prevention on mental health is a largely unexplored field. Therefore, our study examined the longitudinal association between bullying development and trajectories of psychiatric symptoms (emotional problems, total difficulties, nonsuicidal self-injury, and suicidality) and health-related quality of life (HRQL) during the implementation of school-based bullying prevention. Methods: Data of 4,873 pupils (grades 5-13) were collected in 23 schools implementing the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP). Self-report questionnaires were administered at three annual assessment waves and individual codes enabled the association of repeated assessments to the same pupil. Latent growth curve models (LGCMs) were used to examine the relation among bullying status and mental health outcome with mixed-effects linear regressions estimating the association of changes in bullying with changes in continuous scores and mixed-effects logistic regressions for categorical variables. Results: Latent growth curve models revealed an improvement of mental health and HRQL through the termination of bullying for every outcome variable of interest (all p < .001). Correspondingly, we found an explicit increase in psychopathology as well as decrease in HRQL within one year as a result of developing victimization (all p < .001). Interestingly, the growth of psychopathology associated with the onset of bullying was significantly steeper than its decline associated with the termination of bullying. The postulated cumulative effect of ongoing bullying for a further year could only be shown for HRQL (p = .025) and total difficulties (p = .034), but not for specific mental health problems (all p > .117). Conclusions: Latent growth curve models clearly showed that the adverse psychosocial consequences of bullying arise quickly but seem to reduce much slower and partly persist over time. Future long-term studies are necessary to clarify if mental health problems will return to baseline after several years or if residual symptoms will remain.

Bullying is a common and significant risk factor for mental and physical health problems. The aim of the outlined study was to evaluate the German version of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) and to investigate potential moderators of its effectiveness. 23 schools started with the implementation and all students were invited to complete the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire annually. For our analyses, the data from grades 5 to 9 were used (t0: n = 5759; t1: n = 5416; t2: n = 4894). 16 out of the 23 schools completed the 18-months implementation period. The effectiveness of the program statistically depended on its complete implementation (χ2(2) = 7.62, p = 0.022). In the group of non-completers, the prevalence of victimization did not change during the observation period of 2 years (χ2(2) = 4.64, p = 0.099). In the group of the completer schools, a significant decrease in bullying between t0 and t1 was found for victims (t0: 9.14%; t1: 6.87%; OR = 0.74; 95% CI 0.62–0.88; p = 0.001) and perpetrators (t0: 6.16%; t1: 4.42%; OR = 0.70; 95% CI 0.55–0.89; p = 0.004). After 24 months (t2), this decrease could be retained (victims: t2: 6.83%; OR = 0.73; 95%CI = 0.61–0.88; p = 0.001; perpetrators: t2: 4.63%; OR = 0.72; 95% CI 0.57–0.92; p = 0.009). Furthermore, we found the following moderators of program effectiveness in the completer schools: (1) gender (with a stronger decrease among victimized girls; p = 0.004) and (2) school grade (with a stronger decrease of victimization among grades 5–7; p = 0.028). The German version of the OBPP significantly reduced the bullying prevalence in the completer schools. Effective prevention needs time and resources: fulfilling the 18-months implementation period was the basis for positive results.

Background The aim of this study was to investigate whether bullying among students is associated with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and whether associations are comparable to other traumatic events leading to PTSD. Methods Data were collected from 219 German children and adolescents: 150 students from grade six to ten and 69 patients from an outpatient clinic for PTSD as a comparison group. Symptoms of PTSD were assessed using the Children’s Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES) and the Posttraumatic Symptom Scale (PTSS-10). A 2 × 5 factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the factors gender (male, female) and group (control, conflict, moderate bullying, severe bullying, traumatized) was used to test for significant differences in reported PTSD symptoms. Results Results showed that 69 (46.0%) students from the school sample had experienced bullying, 43 (28.7%) in a moderate and 26 (17.3%) in a severe way. About 50% of the severe bullying group reached the critical cut-off point for suspected PTSD. While the scores for symptoms of PTSD were significantly higher in bullied versus non-bullied students, no significant differences were found between patients from the PTSD clinic and students who experienced severe bullying. Conclusions Our findings suggest that bullying at school is highly associated with symptoms of PTSD. Thus, prevention of bullying in school may reduce traumatic experiences and consequent PTSD development.

Fragestellung: Alpträume können bei Kindern, wie auch bei Erwachsenen, als Symptom für eine Traumatisierung gelten. Daher ist zu vermuten, dass bei traumatisierten Kindern und Jugendlichen die Alptraumbelastung höher ist als bei nicht traumatisierten Kindern und Jugendlichen. Methodik: Insgesamt nahmen 38 traumatisierte und 40 nicht traumatisierte Kinder und Jugendliche an der Untersuchung teil. Anhand eines Fragebogens wurde die Alptraumbelastung (u. a. die Alptraumhäufigkeit und die empfundene Intensität) erfasst. Ergebnisse: Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass traumatisierte Kinder und Jugendliche signifikant mehr Alpträume berichten (9.7 Alpträume pro Monat) und diese als intensiver und furchtauslösender bewerten als die Teilnehmer der Kontrollgruppe (1.7 Alpträume pro Monat). Die Anzahl der Alpträume bei traumatisierten Mädchen ist im Vergleich zu der Anzahl der Alpträume bei traumatisierten Jungen doppelt so hoch. Zudem geben traumatisierte Kinder und Jugendliche signifikant häufiger an, Angst vor einer Traumwiederholung zu haben, sich während des Alptraums hilflos und sich am Tag durch den Traum nachhaltig beeinträchtigt zu fühlen. Schlussfolgerung: Patienten mit einer Traumatisierung erleben in ihren Träumen mehr Gewalt und Lebensbedrohung. Eine erhöhte Alptraumbelastung ist damit auch bei Kindern und Jugendlichen ein Merkmal einer vorausgegangenen Traumatisierung.