Yes, bullying matters and stopping it matters. A new study shows it has effects in later years:
Bullying can be defined by many things. It’s teasing, name-calling, stereotyping, fighting, exclusion, spreading rumors, public shaming and aggressive intimidation. It can be in person and online. But it can no longer be considered a rite of passage that strengthens character, new research suggests.
Adolescents who are bullied by their peers actually suffer from worse long-term mental health effects than children who are maltreated by adults, based on a study published last week in The Lancet Psychiatry.
The findings were a surprise to Dr. Dieter Wolke and his team that led the study, who expected the two groups to be similarly affected. However, because children tend to spend more time with their peers, it stands to reason that if they have negative relationships with one another, the effects could be severe and long-lasting, he said. They also found that children maltreated by adults were more likely to be bullied.
This confirms what many including yours truly have contended for years.
The researchers discovered that children who were bullied are more likely to suffer anxiety, depression and consider self-harm and suicide later in life.
While all children face conflict, disagreements between friends can usually be resolved in some way. But the repetitive nature of bullying is what can cause such harm, Wolke said.
“Bullying is comparable to a scenario for a caged animal,” he said. “The classroom is a place where you’re with people you didn’t choose to be with, and you can’t escape them if something negative happens.”
Children can internalize the harmful effects of bullying, which creates stress-related issues such as anxiety and depression, or they can externalize it by turning from a victim to a bully themselves. Either way, the result has a painful impact.
The study also concluded with a call to action, suggesting that while the government has justifiably focused on addressing maltreatment and abuse in the home, they should also consider bullying as a serious problem that requires schools, health services and communities to prevent, respond to or stop this abusive culture from forming.
“It’s a community problem,” Wolke said. “Physicians don’t ask about bullying. Health professionals, educators and legislation could provide parents with medical and social resources. We all need to be trained to ask about peer relationships.”
For several years now there has been a major full-court-press in schools to try and nip bullying in the bud by offering various programs and assemblies for kids and training for teachers and administrators. in my non-writing incarnation I have done schools across the United States and in Canada for years — and the number one request from educators is a program that deals with bullying, the importance of reporting it, and how crucial it is to stop it.
I’ve had principals and teachers come over to me and tell about their experiences. One principal got up and told her school that she went into teaching because she was bullied a child for being too tall.
I’ve also done several posts and syndicated cartoons on bullying related issues, which take on new meaning in the context of this study:
—It’s Time to Beat Down America’s Bullying Problem
—Bully: THE Movie on Bullying (the Problem is REAL)
—Schools Grappling with Growing Bullying Problem
—GREAT Middle School Anti-Bullying Film: Trey the Movie. A Bullyproof production
—New Bullying Problem for Schools: Parents
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.