Is victimization from bullying associated with medicine use among adolescents?
Department of Social Medicine, Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, PO Box 2099, DK-1014 Copenhagen, Denmark. p.due@pubhealth.ku.dk OBJECTIVE: The goal was to examine whether being a victim of bullying was associated with medicine use, taking into account the increased prevalence of physical and psychological symptoms. METHODS: The study population included all students in grades 5, 7, and 9 (mean ages: 11.6, 13.6, and 15.6 years, respectively) in a random sample of schools in Denmark (participation rate: 88.5%; N = 5205). The students reported health problems, medicine use, bullying, and a range of psychosocial conditions in an anonymous standardized questionnaire. The outcome measure was self-reported medicine use for headache, stomachache, difficulties in getting to sleep, and nervousness. The determinant was frequency of exposure to bullying, measured with 1 item. RESULTS: In multivariate models adjusted for age and
