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A review of the literature on bullying suggests that teens on both sides of this abusive relationship may be more likely to bring guns to school than other teens.
MONDAY, June 9, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Teenage bullies and their victims are more likely to carry weapons than kids not involved in these abusive relationships, according to a new research review.
With school shootings a concern across the United States, the findings -- culled from 45 previously published studies -- put a spotlight on the potential link between bullying and subsequent violence, experts said.
"Bullying was already found harmful for victims in previous studies, but bullying may also be related to a more unsafe atmosphere in school for all attending children and the personnel through an increased likelihood of weapon carrying," said the lead researcher of the study, Mitch van Geel of the Institute of Education and Child Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
"Adolescents who carry weapons are more likely to get into fights, to suffer injury, and to experience hospitalization than adolescents who do not carry weapons," van Geel said.
The analysis found that bullies, victims and bully-victims -- kids who are picked on who then become bullies themselves -- were more likely to carry weapons than others.
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