The lasting impact of youth bullying exposure on adult labor market outcomes: An inter-disciplinary review of the literature

January 2026

Higher direct and indirect exposure to bullying has been linked to long-term increases in healthcare costs, worse mental health, and poorer social relationships as well as a reduction in human capital accumulation and economic productivity. Consequently, preventing and mitigating the long-lasting negative effects of bullying has become a worldwide challenge for school and health policies. This paper aims to review the evidence supporting an effect on early-life bullying victimization on adult socioeconomic outcomes and develop an integrative framework for understanding these effects that encompasses (1) how bullying processes emerge and are sustained during childhood and adolescence; (2) how they affect labor opportunities in adulthood; (3) the mediating role of skill, social capital, identity, and mental health; and (4) how social structures as well as individual characteristics determined early in life (e.g., innate capacities, vulnerability and susceptibility) may operate as moderators or potential confounders. Our framework draws from theoretical and empirical work in education and labor economics as well as in clinical and developmental psychology. Our integration and synthesis on how the processes relate over time provides researchers, practitioners, and policymakers concrete directions for future research and support evidence-based arguments in favor of continued development and improvement of antibullying programs by both schools and governments.

Keywords

Bullying, human capital, social capital, identity development, mental health, labor market

Education level

K-12 Education

Topics

Student Well-Being