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

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 < .001) and premorbid bullying (p = .002) than controls, while individuals in the other diagnostic subgroups did not differ significantly from controls.

Discussion: Our results confirm an association between bullying and binge-eating/purging ED subtypes. Prospective studies are needed to establish bullying as a risk factor for EDs.