A teenager’s mental health is negatively affected by being bullied at childhood much more than being maltreated, according to a new study.
A study conducted by a team of researchers of University of Warwick says that people who have been bullied during childhood will most likely be experiencing anxiety 5 times more and are nearly twice as likely to report depression and self-harm at the age of 18 in comparison to children who had been maltreated.
The lead author of the study by Professor Dieter Wolke said this is the first research that involves the direct comparison of the effects of maltreatment by adults and peer bullying in childhood and the effect it has on mental health in young adulthood, such as anxiety, depression, self-harming activities and the riskiest of them being the suicidal tendencies.
These results have been derived from the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and the Great Smoky Mountain Studies in the USA (GSMS). The study has examined 4,026 children from ALSPAC whose parents have provided information on maltreatment between the ages of 8 weeks and 8.6 years, and their child’s reports of being a victim of bullying when they had been of 8, 10, and 13 years of age. Along with them, 1,420 children from GSMS has also been part of this study, who reported information on bullying and maltreatment between 9 and 16 years of age.
According to Professor Wolke, till now the governments only concentrated their resources and time on family maltreatment and did not focus on bullying and the scars it leaves on children which eventually have a grave impact in their future. 1 in every 3 children worldwide has reported of being bullied and it is apparent that children who have been victimized by bullies have similar and at times worse mental health problems later in their lives in comparison to those who have been maltreated. There is much more that needs to be done in order to address this imbalance in the society and to overcome it.
The paper has been published in detail in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry.