Peer-reviewed article
Childhood bullying and body dissatisfaction in adolescents from marginalised groups.
Opitz MC, Trompeter N, Schmidt U, Micali N, Sharpe H ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the relationship between childhood bullying and body dissatisfaction in adolescents using data from two large UK cohorts born in the 1990s and 2000s. Children who experienced bullying between ages 5 and 11 were significantly more likely to report body dissatisfaction at ages 10 and 14. The effect was consistent across both cohorts, though it was stronger for girls in one cohort and affected both girls and boys in the other. Marginalised identities did not substantially change these relationships, except that ethnic minority girls showed slightly weaker effects.
Key points
- Childhood bullying was consistently associated with poorer body image outcomes in adolescents across two cohorts
- In ALSPAC, associations were primarily significant for girls; in MCS, significant associations appeared for both girls and boys
- Marginalised identities (including ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation) did not moderate the bullying-body dissatisfaction relationship, except for ethnicity in 14-year-old girls where effects were weaker
- Study used prospective longitudinal data with bullying measured in childhood (ages 5-11) and body dissatisfaction measured at ages 10 and 14
- Authors call for further research on appearance-based bullying specifically and intersectionality of marginalised identities
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causation, only longitudinal association. The analysis does not separately examine appearance-based bullying, which may be most relevant to body dissatisfaction outcomes.
Abstract
Background Experiences of being bullied have consistently been linked to body dissatisfaction. The present study aimed to investigate the longitudinal relationship between childhood bullying and body image outcomes in adolescents from two large UK-based cohorts. Analyses were conducted separately for marginalised groups to investigate unique risks. Methods Data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC, "Children of the 90s" born in 1991-1993) and the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS, including young people born in 2000-2002) were used. Childhood bullying was reported by N = 10,005 children at ages 5-11 (ALSPAC) and N = 10,950 children at 7-11 (MSC), while body dissatisfaction was self-reported at ages 10 and 14 (ALSPAC) and 11 and 14 (MSC). Results Experiences of childhood bullying were consistently associated with poorer body image outcomes in adolescents. While the ALSPAC cohort showed primarily significant associations for girls, MCS data indicated significant associations for both girls and boys. Marginalised identities did not moderate effects, except for ethnicity in 14-year-old girls (MSC), indicating a weaker effect for ethnic minority girls. Conclusions The present study provides further evidence for the role of childhood bullying experiences as a risk factor for body dissatisfaction in adolescents. Further research needs to investigate the role of intersectionality when exploring marginalised identities, as well as the unique role of appearance-based bullying on body dissatisfaction.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- None - this is an observational study examining the natural relationship between bullying and body dissatisfaction
- Population
- Adolescents from two UK birth cohorts (ALSPAC n=10,005 born 1991-1993; MCS n=10,950 born 2000-2002), including marginalised groups
Key finding
Childhood bullying consistently associated with poorer body image outcomes in adolescents across both cohorts
MC et al. · Europe PMC · 22 Jul 2026