Understanding the Relationship Between Bullying Victimisation and Mental Health in Childhood and Adolescence: A Social Science Genetic Approach

Bullying victimisation has a complex aetiology which includes some genetically influenced vulnerabilities captured by polygenic scores. This highlights the importance of pre-existing vulnerabilities explaining the relationship between bullying and mental health. It is thus very important to not only examine the social contributions but to explore the genetic influences that contribute to the risk of being bullied. Interventions can then be informed by the core aspects of this thesis, i.e. gene-environment interplay. Using social science genetic informed approaches, this thesis proposes to examine multiple levels of influence on the association between bullying victimisation and mental health; clarify the mechanisms and pathways behind bullying victimisation; and suggest strategies to deal with pre-existing vulnerabilities and help foster resilience.