Bullied kids have
more behavioral problems
SOURCE: Pediatrics,
July 2006 from news.yahoo.com on the Web, July 6, 2006
Children who are bullied during their
early school years may experience behavior problems as a result, new study
findings suggest.
"Our results indicate that bullying victimization in the early school years is
an influential experience for a child's behavioral development and mental health
problems," study author Dr. Louise Arseneault, of King's College, London, and
her colleagues write.
"Prevention and intervention programs aimed at reducing mental health problems
during childhood should target bullying as an important risk factor," they add.
According to previous research, victimization may be associated with mental
health problems in adults. It is also known that some mental health
problems in adults stem from poor mental health in childhood. In the
current study, Arseneault and her team investigated bullying in childhood,
looking at the extent to which bullying contributed to later adjustment
problems.
They analyzed information for 2,232 subjects who participated in home-visit
assessments at 5 years old and follow-up assessments at age 7.
Those assessments revealed that the majority of children had never bullied
another child or experienced bullying between ages 5 and 7. However, 14.4
percent were "pure victims" and 6.2 percent were "bully/victims," children who
had been bullied and who also victimized others. Another 1,387 children
who were not involved in bullying served as a comparison, or "control," group.
Both groups of children had significantly more behavior problems and problems
adjusting in school at 7 years old, compared with the control children, the
investigators report in the journal Pediatrics.
Pure victims had more internalizing problems, such as being withdrawn, anxious
or depressed, and were also more unhappy at school compared with children in the
control group.
Bully/victims also had internalizing problems. In addition, they had fewer
prosocial behaviors, such as being considerate of other people's feelings; and
were less happy at school at age 7 compared with the pure victims and children
in the control group.
In light of their findings, "bullying could be regarded as a stressful life
event that might influence children's normal development," Arseneault and her
co-authors conclude.
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