Study shows bullying has long-term health effects

Study shows bullying has long-term health effects

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SALT LAKE CITY — The old adage “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” has been disproven in a new study that reveals the effects of bullying may linger far longer than the playground.

The American Journal of Psychiatry published new findings revealing that the mental and emotional damage caused by bullying can create health problems later in life.

“Being bullied at the age of 7 and 11 also was associated with personal feelings of poor general health at age 23 and 50, and with poor cognitive functioning at age 50, according to the study in the American Journal of Psychiatry,” the Washington Post said. “Bullied children did not, however, show higher rates of alcohol dependence in midlife.”

Conducted over 50 years, the study surveyed children who said they were bullied at ages 7 and 11, then compared the impact at ages 23, 45 and 50. Results revealed victims were most often male with parents who were not involved in their lives.

Questions answered by participants in the study asked things like "How often did kids kick or push you in a mean way during the past 12 months?"

“If a child responded to any of the six questions related to victimization with ‘about once a week’ or ‘a few times a week,’ he or she was considered to have experienced bullying,” CNN said.

The study found that those who had been bullied in the past and present had the worst psychological health.

“Those who experienced past and present bullying also tended to have worse symptoms of depression than other children surveyed,” CNN said. “The worst depression symptoms were shown by 30 percent of 10th grade students bullied in the past and present, compared with 19 percent of those bullied only currently, 13 percent of those bullied in the past only and 8 percent of those who had not been bullied.”

Being bullied, the study said, was also associated with lower education levels, higher likelihood of being single at 50, having fewer friends and lower life satisfaction.

Stop Bullying.gov, the officially sanctioned government website against bullying, defines bullying as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-age children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance, repeated over time. Classified as verbal, social or physical bullying, the site includes a list of things deemed unacceptable.

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