Childhood Bullying Linked to Self Harm in Late Adolescence

Many consider bullying as a normal part of childhood, something that has been happening in schools and neighborhoods for years. But bullying is not to be taken lightly, as a new study has proven that being bullied during childhood directly elevates the risk of self-harm in late adolescence.

The study highlights an important finding: being bullied at primary school-age leads to anguish, which increases the risk of self-harming in later adolescence. It was led by researchers from the University of Warwick in association with colleagues at the University of Bristol.

Researchers assessed 5,000 participants from the Children of the 90s study, for exposure to bullying at the age of 7-10 years. Later, they enquired whether they were involved in any self-harm act at the age of 16-17 years.

The study states that the reason why they opt for something so drastic like self-harm is because it relieves tension or communicates stress. In some extreme cases, it represents the person's suicidal intention.

The researchers noticed that among the 16-17 year olds, nearly 16.5 percent of them had self-harmed in the previous year, and nearly 26.9 percent engaged in this harmful act because they felt they 'wanted to die'. The victims of chronic bullying, who were bullied for several years at primary school, were five times more likely to self-harm and six-seven times more likely to harm themselves in adolescence.

"It is further evidence for doing away with the myth that bullying at a young age can be viewed as a harmless rite of passage. I'd like to see clinicians routinely asking children about bullying - from name calling to more physical acts of abuse. The importance of this early intervention should not be understated. If we were able to eliminate bullying, while other exposures remained constant, there would be a potential to prevent 20% of all self-harm cases," professor Dieter Wolke of the University of Warwick said in a press statement.

The researchers took great lengths to control the study for previous exposure to adverse family environment that includes domestic violence, parental style or existing childhood mental health issues.

The results showed that when compared to boys, girls were more likely to engage in self-harm and develop symptoms of depression.

The study was published in the journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.