Kids who are picked on by their peers may see lasting effects on their physical and mental well-being --
especially if the bullying is allowed to persist for years, a new study suggests.
The study found that kids who are chronically bullied seem to fare the worst: Those continually picked on from fifth grade to 10th grade had the lowest scores on measures of physical and emotional health.
Kids who were bullied at a younger age but saw the problem fade tended to do better. But they were still worse off than their peers who'd never been victimized
...The study, published online Feb. 17 in Pediatrics, "adds one more element to the growing priority of preventing peer victimization and helping those affected by it," said Finkelhor [David Finkelhor, who directs the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham]. He was not involved in the research.
A limit of the study, he said, is that it had no information on other types of victimization kids can face, such as abuse from parents and witnessing domestic violence.
More and more, Finkelhor said, studies are showing that it's those kids -- victimized in multiple ways -- who "carry the biggest scars as they move on."
Bullying May Have Lasting Health Effects on Kids
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