Bullying Can Affect Health Later In Lifeby Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger 30 Aug 2007 07:57 PM A study from Finland has found that boys who bully and boys who are victims of bullies are at higher risk for mental health disorders in their late teens and early twenties. More than 2500 Finnish boys participated in the study. At the age of eight, the boys were asked questions about bullying: if they were bullied, if they bullied others, how often it happened, and more. Parents and teachers also answered questions about the boys. A decade later, the information was compared with psychiatric information from medical exams taken between the ages of 18 and 23 in preparation for military service (which is compulsory in Finland).
Boys in the study who also had other emotional or behavioral problems were at a higher risk overall when involved in bullying or being bullied. The lead researcher on the study suggested that a mental health professional might be needed in those cases. Also at a higher risk overall were those who both bullied and were victims of bullying. Approximately three percent of the group fell into the both category, and most of them already showed signs of psychiatric problems at age 8. Frequent bullying and frequent victimization is a red flag, according to lead researcher Andre Sourander from Turku University in Finland. Cooperation between parents, teachers, school officials, and health care professionals is important to help the children on both sides of the bullying line. Preventive interventions when a child is young can help reduce the risk of serious mental issues later in life. Learn more about Aimee Amodio  Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover... Relevanthealth tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags bully, bullying, personality disorder, victims of bullying Discuss this article
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