Children and adolescents with learning disabilities experience a rate of mental health problems three to four times greater than their peers in the general population. They are also more likely to experience bullying than the general population. Existing evidence has linked bullying and adverse mental health outcomes among adolescents, both within the general population, as well as for those with learning disabilities. Therefore, it is conceivable that bullying may mediate the association between intellectual disability and mental health, although this has not previously been explored.

Data will be extracted from waves 2-6 of the UK Millennium Cohort Study, to create a parent-reported bullying model and an adolescent-reported bullying model. Structural equation modelling will be conducted to examine parent-reported and adolescent-reported bullying exposure at age 11 as a possible mediator of the relationship between early childhood intellectual disability and mental health problems at age 14.

Project information last updated 6th October 2020