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


METHODS
Nationwide birth cohort study from age 8 to 26 years.


METHODS
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.


METHODS
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.
Department of Child Psychiatry, Turku University and Turku University Hospital, 20520 Turku, Finland. andre.sourander@utu.fi
Andre
A
Sourander
Anat
A
Brunstein Klomek
Kirsti
K
Kumpulainen
Anita
A
Puustjärvi
Henrik
H
Elonheimo
Terja
T
Ristkari
Tuula
T
Tamminen
Irma
I
Moilanen
Jorma
J
Piha
John A
JA
Ronning
D000328:Adult; D058445:Bullying; D002648:Child; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057237:Criminals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013995:Time; D055815:Young Adult