Abstract
Adolescent involvement in bullying as a victim or perpetrator has been associated with negative health outcomes, including emotional distress and substance use. Whether negative affect and substance use are acute responses to bullying involvement or whether they develop over time is unknown. Such knowledge is needed to understand the conditions under which bullying contributes to adverse outcomes, as well as to inform the development of appropriate interventions. This study examined the daily-level associations among bullying, negative affect, and substance use (i.e., alcohol, cigarettes, electronic-cigarettes, marijuana) among a community sample of adolescents (N = 204) ages 13–16 years (55% female, 81% European American, 13% African–American) who had reported bully victimization or perpetration in the past 6 months. Participants completed a brief on-line survey every day for 56 consecutive days, reporting on their experiences with bully victimization, bully perpetration, mood, and substance use for that day. Consistent with hypotheses, being bullied on a given day was associated with reporting greater than average levels of sadness (b= 0.279, 95% CI= [0.172, 0.387]), anger (b= 0.354, 95% CI= [0.242, 0.466]), and cigarette use (OR= 1.453, 95% CI= [1.006, 2.099]) on that day; however, it was not associated with alcohol, electronic-cigarette, or marijuana use. Perpetration was not associated with same day negative affect or substance use. Results of the current study suggest that negative affect and cigarette use may be acute responses to bully victimization. Bully perpetration does not appear to be proximally linked to mood or substance use after accounting for victimization.
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Acknowledgements
This research was funded by R01 AA021169 awarded to J.A.L. by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The authors wish to thank Jennifer Haas, Cynthia Warthling, Ashley Rupp, and Carrie Pengelly for their assistance with data collection. We would also like to thank Denise Feda and James Zemer for their assistance with data management and two anonymous reviewers for their feedback on an earlier draft of the manuscript.
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J.A.L. designed and executed the study and wrote the manuscript. J.L.D. conducted the primary data analysis and wrote part of the results. W.W. assisted with the data analysis and wrote part of the results section. M.T. contributed to the design of the study and collaborated on the writing and editing of the final manuscript. A.B.N. and D.L.E. provided consultation on the design and execution of the study and contributed to writing and editing the final manuscript. K.E.M. contributed to the design and execution of the study and collaborated on the writing and editing of the final manuscript.
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Livingston, J.A., Derrick, J.L., Wang, W. et al. Proximal Associations among Bullying, Mood, and Substance Use: A Daily Report Study. J Child Fam Stud 28, 2558–2571 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1109-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1109-1