The association between bullying and eating disorders: A case–control study

Abstract

Objective: Childhood bullying is associated with a range of adverse mental health outcomes, and here we investigated the association between bullying exposure and eating disorders (EDs). Method: In this case–control study, we compared bullying history in individuals with EDs with community controls. Participants (n = 890, mean age = 29.50 ± 10.60) completed an online self-report battery assessing bullying history and lifetime history of bulimia nervosa (BN), binge-eating disorder (BED), and anorexia nervosa (binge-eating/purging (AN-BP) or restrictive (AN-R) subtype). Logistic regressions were performed to estimate odds ratios (ORs). Results: In the combined ED sample, individuals with a history of any ED were significantly more likely than controls to have experienced bullying victimization during childhood or adolescence (ORs = 1.99–3.30), particularly verbal, indirect, and digital bullying. Bullying prior to ED onset was also significantly more common than bullying within the same time frame for controls (ORs = 1.75–2.16). Further analysis showed that these effects were due to individuals with BN or BED reporting significantly more lifetime (p