Emotional Scars Run Deeper For Bullied Children Compared To Those Abused By Adults, Study Says

Children who experienced being bullied by their peers tend to have lasting emotional scars than those who have been abused by adults, according to findings by researchers from the University of Warwick. The new study, which was published online on April 28 in The Lancet Psychiatry, was led by Warwick’s Department of Psychology Professor Dieter Wolke. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies on April 28.

While it has long been established that bullying affects mental health, the researchers wanted to find out if the long-term mental health effects from being bullied is any way related to the effects of being abused by adults. Researchers looked at two studies: UK’s Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, or ALSPAC, with 4,026 participants and the Great Smoky Mountain Study of U.S. with 1,273 participants.

The ALSPAC reports maltreatment occurred in children between the age of eight weeks and 8.6 years; children bullied at 8, 10, and 13; and the mental outcomes by the age of 18. On the other hand, The Great Smoky Mountain Study reports bullying and maltreatment occurred between 9 and 16, and their mental health outcomes in participants between the ages of 19 and 25.

Based on the ALSPAC study results reported in Science Daily, 8.5 percent of children have reported to being maltreated only, 29.7 percent for being bullied and 7 percent reported to being maltreated and bullied. Meanwhile, the results from the Great Smoky Mountain Study showed that 15 percent of children reported to being maltreated, 16.3 percent reported being bullied, and both maltreatment and bullying were reported by 9.8 percent of children.

Researchers analyse the mental health outcomes of bullying, and by mental health outcomes they mean participants who had depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies. The study results showed that those who experienced bullying suffer more mental health issues compared to those who have been maltreated.

"Being bullied is not a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up; it has serious long-term consequences,” said Wolke. He also expressed that schools, health services and other agencies should improve the efforts in the fight against bullying.

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