http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060706/hl_nm/bullied_kids_dc_1 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - 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 Pure victims had more internalizing problems, such as being withdrawn, anxious or depressed, and were also more unhappy at school compared with children in the control group.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. SOURCE: Pediatrics, July 2006. I'm glad someone got paid to figure out bullying is a bad thing. :roll: :lol: Seriously though, I faced a bit of scorn after pulling my child out of the ps arena mainly due to severe bullying. I have yet to meet one adult who was 100% over the bullying they recieved in school. At the very least most people remember the persons name and remember the situations. I believe we never fully recover from any type of victimization, we may adjust and go on to live productive lives but I think those moments still stay with us forever.
Haven't read the document yet but I will give a great big fat AMEN to it (just the title of it) because we have gone through it with our middle son.
It'd be nice if they did studies on older kids and adults. 5-7 year olds may not give the clearest picture of what it's like older. However, I do know that their results are true! I was bullied some, or at least not in the "in" group, and treated badly because of it. So it's definitely a problem. Man, what would life be like if they did away with bullying? Maybe less school and drive-by shootings (etc., etc., etc.)?!
My son has also been bullied and I know it effected his self istem (sp?) We finally gave our son permision to hit back, ( we have always said hitting is wrong and to walk away) and after the bully got a black eye he stopped. But still today my son is not a hitter and puts up with a lot from other kids. I think at time to much. But I'm glad he still knows how to be the bigger man and walk away.
I'm not over mine and I remember their names (even though it hasn't been that long) but surely after getting married and having a child you would think I would have, but nope.
Something to print out and hand to those nuts that say getting bullied and learning to deal with it is good for kids. :roll:
I never understand how it is they can say that. I guess they probably were the ones who bullied kids or one day got bullied and got to return the favor, maybe?
