Abstract
AIMS—To examine the association of direct (e.g. hitting) and relational (e.g. hurtful manipulation of peer relationships) bullying experience with common health problems. METHODS—A total of 1639 children (aged 6-9 years) in 31 primary schools were studied in a cross sectional study that assessed bullying with a structured child interview and common health problems using parent reports. Main outcome measures were common physical (e.g. colds/coughs) and psychosomatic (e.g. night waking) health problems and school absenteeism. RESULTS—Of the children studied, 4.3% were found to be direct bullies, 10.2% bully/victims (i.e. both bully and become victims), and 39.8% victims. Direct bully/victims, victims, and girls were most likely to have physical health symptoms (e.g. repeated sore throats, colds, and coughs). Direct bully/victims, direct victims, and year 2 children were most likely to have high psychosomatic health problems (e.g. poor appetite, worries about going to school). Pure bullies (who never got victimised) had the least physical or psychosomatic health problems. No association between relational bullying and health problems was found. CONCLUSIONS—Direct bullying (e.g. hitting) has only low to moderate associations with common health problems in primary school children. Nevertheless, health professionals seeing children with repeated sore throat, colds, breathing problems, nausea, poor appetite, or school worries should consider bullying as contributory factor.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (134.1 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Austin S., Joseph S. Assessment of bully/victim problems in 8 to 11 year-olds. Br J Educ Psychol. 1996 Dec;66(Pt 4):447–456. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01211.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hawker D. S., Boulton M. J. Twenty years' research on peer victimization and psychosocial maladjustment: a meta-analytic review of cross-sectional studies. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2000 May;41(4):441–455. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kumpulainen K., Räsänen E., Henttonen I., Almqvist F., Kresanov K., Linna S. L., Moilanen I., Piha J., Puura K., Tamminen T. Bullying and psychiatric symptoms among elementary school-age children. Child Abuse Negl. 1998 Jul;22(7):705–717. doi: 10.1016/s0145-2134(98)00049-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mynard H., Joseph S. Bully/victim problems and their association with Eysenck's personality dimensions in 8 to 13 year-olds. Br J Educ Psychol. 1997 Mar;67(Pt 1):51–54. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1997.tb01226.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Salmon G., James A., Smith D. M. Bullying in schools: self reported anxiety, depression, and self esteem in secondary school children. BMJ. 1998 Oct 3;317(7163):924–925. doi: 10.1136/bmj.317.7163.924. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Voss L. D., Mulligan J. Bullying in school: are short pupils at risk? Questionnaire study in a cohort. BMJ. 2000 Mar 4;320(7235):612–613. doi: 10.1136/bmj.320.7235.612. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Williams K., Chambers M., Logan S., Robinson D. Association of common health symptoms with bullying in primary school children. BMJ. 1996 Jul 6;313(7048):17–19. doi: 10.1136/bmj.313.7048.17. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wolke D., Söhne B., Ohrt B., Riegel K. Follow-up of preterm children: important to document dropouts. Lancet. 1995 Feb 18;345(8947):447–447. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)90425-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wolke D., Woods S., Bloomfield L., Karstadt L. The association between direct and relational bullying and behaviour problems among primary school children. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2000 Nov;41(8):989–1002. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]