Short-term effects of peer bullying victimization on intimate partner violence

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: While research has established associations between peer bullying victimization and increased risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) from a partner, most research has been cross-sectional and therefore unable to account for prior experiences of bullying and the cyclical nature of the bullying-IPV relationship METHODS: The goal of our study was to provide a robust evaluation of the effects of physical and psychological peer bullying victimization on IPV victimization using longitudinal data from 2015-2017 that bridges the transition between middle and high school among youth from a predominately Latine agricultural region in California (analysis performed in 2025). We explored if physical and psychological peer bullying increased risk for IPV and assessed contextual factors that may modify the relationship between bullying and IPV to identify intervention targets. To account for this time-varying confounding, we used sequential conditional mean models.

RESULTS: All forms of bullying from a peer including physical (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 1.77, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.32, 2.37; p<0.00) and psychological (AOR 1.58 95% CI: 1.10, 2.25; p=0.01) bullying, similarly increased risk of IPV in the short-term after accounting for prior experiences of bullying and IPV. In addition, we found that contextual factors including increased neighborhood disorder and decreased social cohesion modified the relationship between bullying and IPV.

CONCLUSIONS: There is a short-term immediate effect of bully victimization on IPV despite reoccurring and cyclical experiences of both bullying and IPV. Increasing social support from community members is a critical intervention target for preventing IPV among youth.