(Press-News.org) Being bullied in childhood has a greater negative impact on teenager's mental health than being maltreated [1], according to new research published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal.
The findings show that individuals who are bullied in childhood are around five times more likely to experience anxiety (odds ratio 4.9) and are nearly twice as likely to report more depression and self-harm at age 18 (odds ratio 1.7) than children who are maltreated.
The study, led by Professor Dieter Wolke from the University of Warwick, UK, is the first of its kind to directly compare the effects of maltreatment (by adults) and peer bullying in childhood on mental health outcomes (ie, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal tendencies) in young adulthood.
The findings come from the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and the Great Smoky Mountain Studies in the USA (GSMS). The current study includes 4026 children from ALSPAC whose parents provided information on maltreatment between the ages of 8 weeks and 8.6 years, and their child's reports of bullying when they were aged 8, 10, and 13; and 1420 children from GSMS who reported information on maltreatment and bullying between the ages of 9 and 16.
The harmful effects of bullying remained even when other factors that are known to increase the risk of child abuse and bullying, including family hardship and the mental health of mothers, were taken into account.
According to Professor Wolke, "Until now, governments have focused their efforts and resources on family maltreatment rather than bullying. Since 1 in 3 children worldwide report being bullied, and it is clear that bullied children have similar or worse mental health problems later in life to those who are maltreated, more needs to be done to address this imbalance. Moreover, it is vital that schools, health services, and other agencies work together to tackle bullying." [2]
Writing in a linked Comment, David Finkelhor and Corinna Jenkins Tucker from the University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA discuss the fragmented response to child maltreatment and the need for protection lobbies to join forces, saying that, "This new study illustrates the growing consensus that children are entitled to grow up free from violence, denigration, and non-consented sexual activity at the hands of both adults and young peers. That growing consensus might be responsible for the fact that, if the epidemiological data are to be trusted, in spite of the fragmentations of response systems, the toll of some of these various scourges seems to be on the decline in the past 20 years."
The research is being presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego, USA. Professor Wolke will also give a talk covering this research at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival , UK, in June.
INFORMATION:
NOTES TO EDITORS:
This study was funded by the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NARSAD (Early Career Award), and the William T Grant Foundation.
[1] Child maltreatment is defined as any physical or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, or negligent treatment resulting in actual or potential harm to the child's health, survival, or dignity.
[2] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in text of Article.
A new study published in The Lancet Psychiatry shows that children who have been bullied by peers suffer worse in the longer term than those who have been maltreated by adults.
The research is led by Professor Dieter Wolke from Warwick's Department of Psychology and Warwick Medical School. The study is due to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego on Tuesday 28 April.
There is already an established link between maltreatment by adults and the mental health consequences for children. Professor Wolke and his team wanted to examine ...
April 28, 2015, Stockholm, Sweden - In studying the molecular biology of brain development, a team of researchers led by Ludwig Stockholm director Thomas Perlmann has discovered how disruption of a developmental mechanism alters the very nerve cells that are most affected in Parkinson's disease. They have also explained how such disruption induces a lethal dysfunction in the internal, house-keeping processes of such neurons. The results of their study, which took nearly four years to complete and involved the exquisitely targeted manipulation of mouse genes to generate ...
A new paper by Oxford researchers argues that some countries in Western Europe, and the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand now have birth rates that are now relatively close to replacement, that the underlying trend in Europe is upwards, and that population ageing, although inevitable, is likely to be 'manageable'.
The publication in the journal, Population Studies, by Professor David Coleman and Associate Professor Stuart Basten, provides a more optimistic demographic picture of the future in the West, in contrast to the commonly accepted narrative. Much has been ...
Parental separation or divorce is linked to a heightened risk of psychosomatic problems among the children in the family, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
But joint custody seems to be less problematic than sole custody, the findings suggest.
Over the past 20 years, family break-up has become more common in developed countries, with an increasing tendency to award joint legal custody afterwards. In Sweden alone, joint custody has surged from 1-2% of children affected by divorce/separation during the 1980s to 40% ...
A study of more than 1.2 million children in Sweden has concluded that children of parents with any type of diabetes are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes (T1D), and that maternal overweight and obesity increases the risk of the child developing T1D when neither parent has diabetes.
The results, published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes), clearly suggest that strategies to reduce overweight and obesity before and during pregnancy could reduce the incidence of T1D, which is currently increasing in children (and especially ...
1. New class of cholesterol drug proves safe and effective for patients with dyslipidemia
Treatment with PCSK9 antibodies reduces mortality and produces profound reductions in LDL-cholesterol and lipoprotein in patients with dyslipidemia. The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis are being published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Having elevated LDL-cholesterol levels contributes substantially to the development of coronary artery disease and the risk of cardiovascular events. Current guidelines recommend that patients with elevated cholesterol be treated ...
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - April 27, 2015 - Refining the results of a 2013 study, researchers have found that atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat, is associated with only one type of heart attack - the more common of the two types.
The study, led by Elsayed Z. Soliman, M.D., director of the Epidemiological Cardiology Research Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, is published in the April 27 issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
Atrial fibrillation, or a-fib, is the most prevalent heart rhythm disorder, affecting as many as 6 million ...
Women with breast cancer who follow a physical exercise program during their chemotherapy treatment experience less side effects like fatigue, reduced physical fitness, nausea and pain. It is also less often necessary to adjust the dosage of their chemotherapy. This is shown by a study supervised by prof. dr. Neil Aaronson of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI).
Chemotherapy can be very burdensome for patients. Because of the side effects, not all patients are able to complete their chemotherapy as originally planned, but require a dose adjustment. There are some ...
Using a simple device for eight hours a night to treat sleep apnea can help people with prediabetes improve their blood sugar levels and may reduce the risk of progressing to diabetes, according to a new study published online in the April 21, 2015, issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
About 57 million Americans have prediabetes, a disorder marked by blood sugar levels that are elevated but not sufficiently high to be considered diabetic. Prediabetics are at increased risk for developing diabetes, which can damage the eyes, kidneys, ...
April 25, 2015, Vienna , Austria: Phase 3 results presented today at The International Liver Congress™ 2015 show that a combination of daclatasvir (DCV), sofosbuvir (SOF) and ribavirin (RBV) for 12 weeks was effective and well tolerated amongst patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with advanced cirrhosis and post-transplant recurrence. Sustained virologic response rates at 12 weeks (SVR12) were >90% in patients with Child-Pugh class A or B cirrhosis but lower in Child-Pugh class C. SVR12 was achieved by 94% of liver transplant recipients with HCV recurrence.
ALLY-1 ...
