14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, researchers in the UK announced the results of their latest study on bullying, and the conclusions are worrying. According to the statistic data, children who have been bullied from a very young age do not get tougher as some twisted parents think, but rather become twice as likely to develop symptoms associated with mental illnesses until they grow to be of preteen age as those who haven't experienced bullying. Among the most common after-effects, the research team identifies delusions and hallucinations, among other psychotic symptoms, Reuters reports.
In a paper detailing the finds, published in a recent issue of the scientific journal Archives of General Psychiatry, experts from the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, say that bullying may even act like a trigger for schizophrenia, in children who are genetically predisposed to developing the disease later on in life. “Chronic or severe peer victimization has nontrivial, adverse, long-term consequences,” Andrea Schreier, one of the researchers involved in the new investigation, wrote.
The expert also mentioned previous studies, which certified the fact that early exposure to physical or sexual abuse could cause psychosis when the victims reached adulthood. But experts had no idea, prior to this study, that the effects could begin to manifest themselves so early, even before the children became teenagers. And, the scientists say, psychosis is one of the main factors causing schizophrenia in adults. During the study, the Warwick team analyzed the cases of 6,437 youngsters, all aged 12.
The investigations established that approximately 46.2 percent of them had been victims of severe or chronic abuse, coming from older peers at the schools they followed. The children entered the study when they were aged 7, and, every six months, the researchers would come in and assess their condition by directly talking to the little ones and also by having their parents fill out questionnaires. Teachers were also involved in the survey, and the definition of bullying was settled as being the negative action undertook by a pupil, with the express purpose of hurting another.
Among the most clear results, Schreier mentioned the fact that children who were abused were twice as likely as the others to experience symptoms associated with psychosis. In addition, the scientist pinpointed, the connection was found to exist regardless of the situation at home, of the child's IQ, or of other socio-economic factors. Why bullying affects people in such a negative way is still a subject of controversy, but some say it may be because chronic or severe negative actions may alter the body's response to stress.