Bullies have Better Future Heart Health; Study Finds

Children who bully their peers have better health later in life due to increase in social status, a new study has found. Bullied children tend to suffer from long-term health problems, including chronic, systemic inflammation.

The study, conducted by researchers at Duke Medicine along with colleagues at University of Warwick, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Emory University, looked at both sides of the issue. They found that bullies have better health in the future due to an increase in social status.

Bullying victims not only suffer from emotional problems, as noted by several other studies, but might even develop chronic health diseases due to increase in inflammation, researchers found.

Data for the study came from Great Smoky Mountains Study, which had collected information from 1,420 individuals for more than 20 years.

Participants were interviewed throughout their childhood and adulthood. Blood samples of the children in the study were collected to look for specific biological compounds. The team measured levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a marker for inflammation and is associated with future heart health.

"CRP levels are affected by a variety of stressors, including poor nutrition, lack of sleep and infection, but we've found that they are also related to psychosocial factors," William E. Copeland, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and the study's lead author, said in a news release. "By controlling for participants' pre-existing CRP levels, even before involvement in bullying, we get a clearer understanding of how bullying could change the trajectory of CRP levels.

The study included bullies, victims and people who were both bullies and victims. The team found that CRP levels increased across the three groups during adulthood. However, victims of bullies had higher levels of the marker when compared with the other two groups. What's more is that the CRP levels went up with each incident of bullying.

"Our study found that a child's role in bullying can serve as either a risk or a protective factor for low-grade inflammation," Copeland said. "Enhanced social status seems to have a biological advantage. However, there are ways children can experience social success aside from bullying others."

The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.