Critique For Cardiff

Critique of a research article titled “Does bulling cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers” authored by Lyndal Bond, John B Carlin, Lyndal Thomas, Kerryn Rubin and George Patton, and published in the British Medical Journal 2001, volume 323. The authors set out to investigate if there was a causal relationship between being bullied and the resulting self reported emotional problems in the secondary school teenagers being followed up for 2 years. At the end of the study they reported that being bullied and having poor social relations significantly resulted in anxiety or depressive symptoms in the school children.

The Title:

A critical look at how the title related to the findings would make one wonder if the title would not have been more appropriate if it were titled “Does being bullied result in emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers”. This is more apt since the study investigated the emotional problems of victims of bullying and not the behavioural problems of the one inflicting the act of bullying.

The aim

The aims of the study which were to examine the relation between a history of victimization (in year 8) and the incidence of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in year 9 are clearly stated.

Sample size

A sample size of 2559 respondents would appear large enough for this study but the authors failed to indicate the total population of teenagers in the area from which this sample was taken. This information is relevant in order to ascertain if the study is statistically powered to arrive at its conclusions.

Design of the study

The authors employed a cohort study design which is considered appropriate. The methodology of the study also revealed the presence of a co...

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Presentation of results

The authors made a good attempt at presenting their results. The tables were simple and easy to understand. They employed chi square and logistic regression as their statistic of analyses giving p-values, odd rations and attributable fractions.

Generalisability

The authors concluded that bullying and poor social relationship resulted in emotional problems in school children. The generalization that bullying results in emotional problems in adolescent school children is not supported by the results of this study. What specifically should be drawn from this is that bullying results in emotional problems in adolescent girls.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the study set out to investigate a common social problem with dire health implication. However, the methodology is dogged by multiple faults without which the study would have been a good one.