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Associations between peer victimization and depression and anxiety disorders during adolescence: A population-representative study

2025· article· en· W4414382561 on OpenAlexafffundabout
Nicole S. J. Dryburgh, Melanie A. Dirks, Soyeon Kim, Alexa Martin‐Storey, Katholiki Georgiades

Bibliographic record

VenuePsychiatry Research · 2025
Typearticle
Languageen
FieldPsychology
TopicBullying, Victimization, and Aggression
Canadian institutionsUniversité de SherbrookeWaypoint Centre for Mental Health CareMcGill UniversityMcMaster University
FundersInstitute of Population and Public HealthHamilton Community FoundationCanadian Institutes of Health ResearchOntario Ministry of Community and Social ServicesCanada Research ChairsMinistère de l’Éducation, Gouvernement de l’OntarioOntario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
KeywordsPeer victimizationAnxietySocial anxietyDepression (economics)DistressMental healthAnxiety disorderGeneralized anxiety disorderLogistic regression

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

Despite evidence that peer victimization is associated with greater symptoms of anxiety and depression, it is less clear whether these associations extend to clinically significant disorders characterized by impairment and distress. It is also unclear whether specific forms of peer victimization are uniquely associated with internalizing disorders. To address these gaps, we examined whether (a) peer victimization was associated with major depression and anxiety disorders, classifications informed by whether symptoms were associated with impairment and distress, and (b) different types of victimization showed unique associations with certain disorders. A population-representative sample of 2278 adolescents ( M age =14.55 years, 49.0 % boys) from the Ontario Child Health Study participated in diagnostic interviews to assess major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social phobia (SoP), specific phobia, and separation anxiety disorder. Adolescents also reported on physical, verbal, relational, and cyber-victimization. Logistic regression models tested associations between victimization and disorders. Relational victimization was independently associated with GAD, SoP, and any anxiety disorder, and verbal victimization was independently associated with GAD and any anxiety disorder. All forms of victimization, including cyber-victimization, were associated with MDD, but none independently predicted after adjusting for other types of victimization. Overall, peer victimization was associated with MDD and anxiety disorders, indicating that this experience is linked to elevated mental health symptoms associated with distress and impairment. No form of victimization was uniquely associated with MDD; however, relational victimization was independently associated with GAD, SoP, and any anxiety disorder, highlighting this experience as a specific, key challenge for adolescents with anxiety disorders.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.001
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.002
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Observational · Consensus signal: Observational
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: Empirical
Teacher disagreement score0.089
Threshold uncertainty score0.178

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0010.002
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0000.000
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0000.000
Bibliometrics0.0010.001
Science and technology studies0.0010.000
Scholarly communication0.0010.001
Open science0.0010.001
Research integrity0.0000.001
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0010.000

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.031
GPT teacher head0.405
Teacher spread0.374 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designObservational
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations3
Published2025
Admission routes3
Has abstractyes

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