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Bullying at age eight and criminality in adulthood: findings from the Finnish Nationwide 1981 Birth Cohort Study

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Abstract

Context

There are no prospective population-based studies examining predictive associations between childhood bullying behavior and adult criminality.

Objective

To study predictive associations between bullying and victimization at age eight and adult criminal offenses.

Design

Nationwide birth cohort study from age 8 to 26 years.

Participants

The sample consists of 5,351 Finnish children born in 1981 with information about bullying and victimization at age eight from parents, teachers, and the children themselves.

Main outcome measures

National police register information about criminal offenses at age 23–26 years.

Results

When controlled for the parental education level and psychopathology score, bullying sometimes and frequently independently predicted violent (OR 3.9, 95% CI 1.9–7.9, p < 0.001; OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.6–4.1, p < 0.001, respectively), property (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.2–4.7, p < 0.05; OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1–2.7, p < 0.05), and traffic (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.8–4.4, p < 0.001; OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.3–2.1, p < 0.001) offenses. The strongest predictive association was between bullying frequently and more than five crimes during the 4-year period (OR 6.6, 95% CI 2.8–15.3, p < 0.001) in adjusted analyses. When different informants were compared, teacher reports of bullying were the strongest predictor of adult criminality. In adjusted analyses, male victimization did not independently predict adult crime. Among girls, bullying or victimization at age eight were not associated with adult criminality.

Conclusions

Bullying among boys signals an elevated risk of adult criminality.

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Acknowledgments

The study has been supported by a grant from the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, Finland. Dr. Andre Sourander has full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. The authors have no potential conflict of interests to be disclosed.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child Psychiatry, Turku University and Turku University Hospital, 20520, Turku, Finland

    Andre Sourander, Terja Ristkari & Jorma Piha

  2. RBUP, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Tromsö University, Tromsö, Norway

    Andre Sourander

  3. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Anat Brunstein Klomek

  4. Department of Child Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland

    Kirsti Kumpulainen

  5. Department of Child Psychiatry, Kuopio University, Kuopio, Finland

    Anita Puustjärvi

  6. Department of Criminology, Turku University, Turku, Finland

    Henrik Elonheimo

  7. Department of Child Psychiatry, Tampere University and University Hospital, Tampere, Finland

    Tuula Tamminen

  8. Department of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

    Irma Moilanen

  9. Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Tromsö University, Tromsö, Norway

    John A. Ronning

Authors
  1. Andre Sourander
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  2. Anat Brunstein Klomek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andre Sourander.

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Sourander, A., Brunstein Klomek, A., Kumpulainen, K. et al. Bullying at age eight and criminality in adulthood: findings from the Finnish Nationwide 1981 Birth Cohort Study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 46, 1211–1219 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0292-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0292-1

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