Bullied Children More Likely to Suffer from Night Terrors

Children who are bullied at a young age may be at an increased risk of having frequent nightmares, bouts of night terrors or even sleepwalking.

The negative social, physical and mental health effects of childhood bullying are long-lasting and are evident even 40 years after the traumatic event. Most often the children suffer from depression, anxiety, psychotic episodes and at times self-harm like suicide.

In the latest study, researchers at the University of Warwick found that children who are bullied during the ages of 8-10 are more vulnerable to experiencing episodes of sleepwalking, night terrors or nightmares by the time they reach 12 years of age. The researchers highlight that the children who are bullied have an increased risk of suffering from a category of sleep disorder called parasomnia that include sleep-related problems like nightmares, night terrors or sleep walking.

They based their finding on the evaluation of the data retrieved from Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). These elementary school children aged between 8 and 10 years were interviewed about their bullying experiences and also about parasomnias at secondary school age (12-13 years).

Professor Wolke, from Warwick Medical School and the Department of Psychology, said: "We found children who were bullied at age 8 or 10 years were more likely to have nightmares, night terrors, or sleepwalking at age 12 years. Moreover, those who were bullied and bullied others (bully/victims) were most likely to have any parasomnia..."

This finding supports previous reports that stated that females with persistent sleep problems, emotional and behavior problems in childhood added to the risk of parasomnia at the age of 12.

The researchers, however, assume that stress plays a key role in the underlying mechanism for the link between being bullied and parasomnia.

"Nightmares may occur when anxiety exceeds a threshold level and several studies have suggested that trait anxiety may be related to the frequency of parasomnias. However, even after controlling for pre-existing anxiety problems our results showed that being bullied may increase the risk for parasomnia," said Dr Lereya from the Department of Psychology.

The researchers suggest that, if a child is experiencing frequent instances of parasomnia, the parents, teachers, councellors and clinicians should consider enquiring if he/she is being bullied. This would further help in offering such children early help to lower the negative effects of being bullied.

The finding was documented in the Journal Pediatrics.