Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T04:37:32.371Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Adolescent bullying, cannabis use and emerging psychotic experiences: a longitudinal general population study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2012

C. J. Mackie*
Affiliation:
Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
M. O'Leary-Barrett
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
N. Al-Khudhairy
Affiliation:
Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
N. Castellanos-Ryan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal, CHU Hôpital Ste Justine, Montreal, QC, Canada
M. Struve
Affiliation:
Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
L. Topper
Affiliation:
Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
P. Conrod*
Affiliation:
Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal, CHU Hôpital Ste Justine, Montreal, QC, Canada
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr C. J. Mackie, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, 4 Windsor Walk, London SE5 8AF, UK. (Email: clare.mackie@kcl.ac.uk) [C. J. Mackie]
(Email: patricia.conrod@kcl.ac.uk) [P. Conrod]

Abstract

Background

Using longitudinal and prospective measures of psychotic experiences during adolescence, we assessed the risk of developing psychosis in three groups showing low, increasing and elevated psychotic experiences associated with bullying by peers and cannabis use in a UK sample of adolescents.

Method

Data were collected by self-report from 1098 adolescents (mean age 13.6 years; 60.9% boys) at five separate time points, equally separated by 6 months, across a 24-month period. General growth mixture modelling identified three distinct trajectories of adolescents reporting psychotic experiences: elevated, increasing and low.

Results

Controlling for cannabis use, bullying by peers significantly predicted change in psychotic experiences between Time 2 and Time 5 in adolescents belonging to the increasing group. No effect was found for the elevated or low groups. Controlling for bullying, an earlier age of cannabis use and cannabis use more than twice significantly predicted change in psychotic experiences in adolescents belonging to the increasing group. Cannabis use at any age was significantly associated with subsequent change in psychotic experiences in the low group. Reverse causal associations were examined and there was no evidence for psychotic experiences at Time 1 predicting a subsequent change in cannabis use between Times 2 and 5 in any trajectory group.

Conclusions

Bullying by peers and cannabis use are associated with adolescents' reports of increasing psychotic experiences over time. Further research into the longitudinal development of psychosis in adolescence and the associated risk factors would allow for early intervention programmes to be targeted more precisely.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akaike, H (1979). A new look at the statistical model identification. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 19, 616623.Google Scholar
Appels, MC, Sitskoorn, MM, Vollema, MG, Kahn, RS (2004). Elevated levels of schizotypal features in parents of patients with a family history of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Schizophrenia Bulletin 30, 781790.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arseneault, L, Cannon, M, Fisher, HL, Polancyk, G, Moffitt, TE, Caspi, A (2011). Childhood trauma and children's emerging psychotic symptoms: a genetically sensitive longitudinal cohort study. American Journal of Psychiatry 168, 6572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arseneault, L, Cannon, M, Poulton, R, Murray, R, Caspi, A, Moffitt, TE (2002). Cannabis use in adolescence and risk for adult psychosis: longitudinal prospective study. British Medical Journal 325, 12121213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barkus, E, Murray, R (2010). Substance use in adolescence and psychosis: clarifying the relationship. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 6, 365389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bentall, RP, Fernyhough, C (2008). Social predictors of psychotic experiences: specificity and psychological mechanisms. Schizophrenia Bulletin 34, 10121020.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bentall, RP, Rowse, G, Shryane, N, Kinderman, P, Howard, R, Blackwood, N, Moore, R, Corcoran, R (2009). The cognitive and affective structure of paranoid delusions: a transdiagnostic investigation of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 66, 236247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bossong, MG, Niesink, RJM (2010). Adolescent brain maturation, the endogenous cannabinoid system and the neurobiology of cannabis-induced schizophrenia. Progress in Neurobiology 92, 370385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, MLC, Morrison, AP (2007). The relationship between bullying, psychotic like experiences and appraisals in 14–16 year olds. Behaviour Research and Therapy 45, 15791591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannon, TD (2005). Clinical and genetic high-risk strategies in understanding vulnerability to psychosis. Schizophrenia Research 79, 3544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannon, TD, Cadenhead, K, Cornblatt, B, Woods, SW, Addington, J, Walker, E, Seidman, LJ, Perkins, D, Tsuang, M, McGlashan, T, Heinssen, R (2008). Prediction of psychosis in youth at high clinical risk: a multisite longitudinal study in North America. Archives of General Psychiatry 65, 2837.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caspi, A, Moffitt, TE, Cannon, M, McClay, J, Murray, R, Harrington, HL, Taylor, A, Arsenault, L, Williams, B, Braithwaite, A, Poulton, R, Craig, IW (2005). Moderation of the effect of adolescent-onset cannabis use on adult psychosis by a functional polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene: longitudinal evidence of a gene × environment interaction. Biological Psychiatry 57, 11171127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collip, D, Myin-Germeys, I, van Os, J (2008). Does the concept of sensitization provide a plausible mechanism for the putative link between the environ?ental and schizophrenia? Schizophrenia Bulletin 34, 220225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costello, A, Edelbrock, C, Kalas, R, Kessler, M, Klaric, S (1982). NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Child Version. National Institute of Mental Health: Rockville, MD.Google Scholar
Cougnard, A, Marcelis, M, Myin-Germeys, I, de Graaf, R, Vollebergh, W, Krabbendam, L, Lieb, R, Wittchen, H-U, Henquet, C, Spauwen, J, van Os, J (2007). Does normal developmental expression of psychosis combine with environmental risk to cause ?ersistence of psychosis? A psychosis proneness-persistence model. Psychological Medicine 37, 513527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, CE, Elton, RA, Todd, J, Platt, S (1997). Indicators of socioeconomic status for adolescents: the WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey. Health Education Research 12, 385397.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derogatis, LR (1993). BSI Brief Symptom Inventory. Administration, Scoring, and Procedures Manual. National Computer Systems: Minneapolis, MN.Google Scholar
Dhossche, D, Ferdinand, R, van der Ende, J, Hofstra, MB, Verhulst, F (2002). Diagnostic outcomes of self reported hallucinations in a community sample of adolescents. Psychological Medicine 32, 619627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dominguez, MDG, Wichers, M, Lieb, R, Wittchen, H-U, van Os, J (2011). Evidence that onset of clinical psychosis is an outcome of progressively more persistent subclinical psychotic experiences: an 8-year cohort study. Schizophrenia Bulletin 37, 8493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferdinand, RF, Sondeijker, F, van der Ende, J, Selten, JP, Huizink, A, Verhulst, FC (2005). Cannabis use predicts future psychotic symptoms and vice versa. Addiction 100, 612618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ge, X, Jin, R, Natsuaki, MN, Gibbons, FX, Brody, GH, Cutrona, CE (2006). Pubertal maturation and early substance use risks among African American children. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 20, 404414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanssen, M, Bak, M, Bijl, R, Vollebergh, W, van Os, J (2005). The incidence and outcome of subclinical psychotic experiences in the general population. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 44, 181191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harley, M, Kelleher, I, Clarke, M, Lynch, F, Arseneault, L, Connor, D, Fitzpatrick, C, Cannon, M (2010). Cannabis use and childhood trauma interact additively to increase the risk of psychotic symptoms in adolescence. Psychological Medicine 40, 16271634.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayatbakhsh, MR, Najman, JM, McGee, TR, Bor, W, O'Callaghan, MJ (2009). Early pubertal maturation in the prediction of early adult substance use: a prospective study. Addiction 104, 5966.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henquet, C, Krabbendam, L, Spauwen, J, Kaplan, C, Lieb, R, Wittchen, H-U, van Os, J (2005). Prospective cohort study of cannabis use, predisposition for psychosis, and psychotic symptoms in young people. British Medical Journal 330, 1114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henquet, C, Rosa, A, Krabbendam, L, Papiol, J, Fananas, L, Drukker, M, Ramaekers, JC, van Os, J (2006). An experimental study of catechol-O-methyltransferase Val(158)Met moderation of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol-induced effects on psychosis and cognition. Neuropsychopharmacology 31, 27482757.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Houston, JE, Murphy, J, Adamson, G, Stringer, M, Shevlin, M (2008). Childhood sexual abuse, early cannabis use and psychosis: testing an interaction model based on the National Comorbidity Survey. Schizophrenia Bulletin 34, 580585.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Houston, JE, Murphy, J, Shevlin, M, Adamson, G (2011). Cannabis use and psychosis: re-visiting the role of childhood trauma. Psychological Medicine 41, 22392348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johns, LC, van Os, J (2001). The continuity of psychotic experiences in the general population. Clinical Psychology Review 21, 11251141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahn, RS, Linszen, DH, van Os, J, Wiersma, D, Bruggeman, R, Cahn, W, de Haan, L, Krabbendam, L, Myin-Germeys, I; Genetic Risk and Outcome of Psychosis (GROUP) Investigators (2010). Evidence that familial liability for psychosis is expressed as differential sensitivity to cannabis: an analysis of patient-sibling and sibling-control pairs. Archives of General Psychiatry 68, 138147.Google Scholar
Kelleher, I, Cannon, M (2011). Psychotic-like experiences in the general population: characterizing a high-risk group for psychosis. Psychological Medicine 41, 16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelleher, I, Harley, M, Lynch, F, Arseneault, L, Fitzpatrick, C, Cannon, M (2008). Associations between childhood trauma, bullying and psychotic symptoms among a school-based adolescent sample. British Journal of Psychiatry 193, 378382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelleher, I, Harley, M, Murtagh, A, Cannon, M (2011). Are screening instruments valid for ps?chotic-like experiences? A validation study of screening questions for psychotic-like experiences using in-depth clinical interview. Schizophrenia Bulletin 37, 362369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, KS, Gardner, CO, Lichtenstein, P (2008). A developmental twin study of symptoms of anxiety and depression: evidence for genetic innovation and attenuation. Psychological Medicine 38, 15671575.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Konings, M, Henquet, C, Maharajh, HD, Hutchinson, G, van Os, J (2008). Early exposure to cannabis and risk for psychosis in young adolescents in Trinidad. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 118, 209213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krabbendam, L, van Os, J (2005). Schizophrenia and urbanicity: a major environmental influence – conditional on genetic risk. Schizophrenia Bulletin 31, 795799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuepper, R, van Os, J, Lieb, R, Wittchen, H-U, Hofler, M, Henquet, C (2011). Continued cannabis use and risk of incidence and persistence of psychotic symptoms: 10 year follow-up cohort study. British Medical Journal 342, d738.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lanza, ST, Collins, LM (2002). Pubertal timing and the onset of substance use in females during early adolescence. Prevention Science 3, 6982.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lataster, T, van Os, J, Drukker, M, Henquet, C, Feron, F, Gunther, N, Myin-Germeys, I (2006). Childhood victimisation and developmental expression of non-clinical delusional ideation and hallucinatory experiences. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 41, 423428.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Laurens, KR, Hodgins, S, Maughan, B, Murray, RM, Rutter, ML, Taylor, EA (2007). Community screening for psychotic-like experiences and other putative antecedents of schizophrenia in children aged 9–12 years. Schizophrenia Research 90, 130146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lichlyter, B, Purdon, S, Tibbo, P (2011). Predictors of psychosis severity in individuals with primary stimulant addictions. Addictive Behaviors 36, 137139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linscott, RJ, van Os, J (2010). Systematic reviews of categorical versus continuum models in psychosis: evidence for discontinuous subpopulations underlying a psychometric continuum. Implications for DSM-V, DSM-VI and DSM-VII. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 6, 391419.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lo, YT, Mendall, NR, Rubin, DB (2001). Testing the number of components in a normal mixture. Biometrika 88, 767778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, CJ, Castellanos-Ryan, N, Conrod, P (2011). Developmental trajectories of psychotic-like experiences across adolescence: impact of victimization and substance use. Psychological Medicine 41, 4758.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGrath, J, Welham, J, Scott, J, Varghese, D, Degenhardt, L, Hayatbakhsh, MR, Alati, R, Williams, GM, Bor, W, Najman, JM (2010). Association between cannabis use and psychosis-related outcomes using sibling pair analysis in a cohort of young adults. Archives of General Psychiatry 67, 440447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muthén, B (2004). Latent variable analysis: growth mixture modeling and related techniques for longitudinal data. In Handbook of Quantitative Methodology for the Social Sciences (ed. Kaplan, D.), pp. 345368. Sage Publications: Newbury Park, CA.Google Scholar
Muthén, LK, Muthén, BO (2007). Mplus User's Guide. Muthén & Muthén: Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
Myin-Germeys, I, Delespaul, P, van Os, J (2005). Behavioural sensitization to daily life stress in psychosis. Psychological Medicine 35, 733741.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Leary-Barrett, M, Mackie, CJ, Castellanos-Ryan, N, Al-Khudhairy, N, Conrod, PJ (2010). Personality-targeted interventions delay uptake of drinking and decrease risk of alcohol-related problems when delivered by teachers. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 49, 954963.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olweus, D (1996). The Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire. Research Centre for Health Promotion (HEMIL Centre), University of Bergen: Bergen, Norway.Google Scholar
Plomin, R, Emde, RN, Braungart, JM, Campos, J, Corley, R, Fulker, DW, Kagan, J, Reznick, JS, Robinson, J, Zahn-Wexler, C, Defries, JC (1993). Genetic change and continuity from fourteen to twenty months: the MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study. Child Development 64, 13541376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Read, J, van Os, J, Morrison, AP, Ross, CA (2005). Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia: a literature review with theoretical and clinical implications. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 112, 330350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sahin, HG, Batiguen, AD, Ugurtas, S (2002). The validity, reliability and factor structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) [in Turkish]. Turk Psikiyatri Dergisi 13, 125135.Google Scholar
Schreier, A, Wolke, D, Thomas, K, Horwood, J, Hollis, C, Gunnell, D, Lewis, G, Thompson, A, Zammit, S, Duffy, L, Salvi, G, Harrison, G (2009). Prospective study of peer victimization in childhood and psychotic symptoms in a nonclinical population at age 12 years. Archives of General Psychiatry 66, 527536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, G (1978). Estimating the dimension of a model. Annals of Statistics 6, 461464.Google Scholar
Shaw, DS, Wagner, EF, Arnett, J, Aber, MS (1992). The factor structure of the Reckless Behavior Questionnaire. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 21, 305323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
StataCorp (2005). Stata Statistical Software: Release 10.1. Stata Corporation: College Station, TX.Google Scholar
Stefanis, NC, Delespaul, P, Henquet, C, Bakoula, C, Stefanis, CN, van Os, J (2004). Early adolescent cannabis exposure and positive and negative dimensions of psychosis. Addiction 99, 13331341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Os, J, Bak, M, Hanssen, M, Bijl, RV, de Graaf, R, Verdoux, H (2002). Cannabis use and psychosis: a longitudinal population-based study. American Journal of Epidemiology 156, 319327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Os, J, Linscott, RJ, Myin-Germeys, I, Delespaul, P, Krabbendam, L (2009). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the psychosis continuum: evidence for a psychosis proneness-persistence-impairment model of psychotic disorder. Psychological Medicine 39, 179195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Varese, F, Udachina, A, Myin-Germeys, I, Oorschot, M, Bentall, RP (2011). The relationship between dissociation and auditory verbal hallucinations in the flow of daily life of patients with psychosis. Psychosis 3, 1828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verdoux, H, van Os, J, Maurice-Tison, S, Gay, B, Salamon, R, Bourgeois, M (1998). Is early adulthood a critical developmental stage?for psychosis proneness? A survey of delusional ideation in normal subjects. Schizophrenia Research 29, 247254.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wigman, JTW, van Winkel, R, Raaijmakers, QAW, Ormel, J, Verhulst, FC, Reijneveld, SA, van Os, J, Vollebergh, WAM (2011). Evidence for a persistent, environmental-dependent and deteriorating subtype of subclinical psychotic experiences: a 6-year longitudinal general population study. Psychological Medicine 41, 23172329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoshizumi, T, Murase, S, Honjo, S, Kaneko, H, Murakami, T (2004). Hallucinatory experiences in a community sample of Japanese children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 43, 10301036.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yung, AR, Phillips, L, Pan Yuen, H, Francey, SM, McFarlane, CA, Hallgreen, M, McGorry, PD (2003). Psychosis prediction: 12-month follow up of a high-risk (‘prodromal’) group. Schizophrenia Research 60, 2132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yung, AR, Stanford, C, Cosgrave, E, Killackey, E, Phillips, L, Nelson, B, McGorry, PD (2006). Testing the ultra high risk (prodromal) criteria for the prediction of psychosis in a clinical sample of young people. Schizophrenia Research 84, 5766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zammit, S, Allebeck, P, Andreasson, S, Lundberg, I, Lewis, G (2002). Self reported cannabis use as a risk factor for schizophrenia in Swedish conscripts of 1969: historical cohort study. British Medical Journal 325, 1199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed