title: Bullying in childhood and religious/spiritual status in adulthood among internal medicine outpatients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bullying in childhood is ubiquitous and associated with a number of identified negative outcomes in both childhood and adulthood. However, the relationship between being bullied in childhood and religious/spiritual status in adulthood has never been explored.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a cross-sectional sample of 324 consecutive internal medicine outpatients and a survey methodology, we examined relationships between 'When you were growing up, were you ever a victim of bullying?' and (1) self-perceived extent of religiosity/spirituality and (2) religiosity/spirituality as assessed by scores on the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp-12).
  
  
  RESULTS
  While bullying status in childhood was not related to either the self-perceived extent of religiosity or spirituality, it did evidence negative statistically significant relationships with seven of 12 FACIT-Sp-12 scales, as well as the overall composite score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to these data, bullying in childhood is associated with lower religious/spiritual well-being in adulthood; however, this study was not designed to examine a causal relationship.
authors.affiliation: 1Wright State University, School of Medicine, Dayton, USA.
authors.forename: Randy A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sansone
authors.forename: Amy R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: Jeremy S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Forbis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D058445:Bullying / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012067:Religion; D029181:Spirituality; D055815:Young Adult