Victims of Bullying More
Often Depressed, Suicidal
Excerpt By Linda Carroll, Reuters Health

Bullied youngsters, especially girls, are far more likely than other children to be depressed or even suicidal, a new study from the Netherlands shows.

More than 40 percent of girls who were frequently hit, kicked, threatened or called names said they were depressed and almost 25 percent said they thought about suicide, according to the study published in the journal Pediatrics.

The numbers were only slightly lower when bullies used more indirect means -- such as ignoring, excluding and backbiting -- to torment their victims.

Among girls who were often the target of indirect bullying, 35 percent said they were depressed and 21 percent said they had suicidal thoughts.

Among girls who said they were almost never bullied directly, only about 6 percent reported depression and 4 percent said they thought about suicide.

The new results show that teachers and other school personnel need to pay more attention to the various forms of bullying, according to the study's lead author, Marcel F. van der Wal, a researcher in the department of epidemiology and health promotion at the Municipal Health Service in Amsterdam.

"They especially need to pay more attention to indirect forms of bullying," van der Wal said in an interview with Reuters Health. "Teachers do not always consider social exclusion to be a form of bullying. Or, they consider this form of bullying to be less harmful."

Bullying also caused distress to boys, but not as frequently.

Among boys who were frequent victims of more direct forms of bullying, 22 percent said they were depressed. Just under 28 percent of those who were indirectly bulled reported depression. About 3 percent of the non-bullied boys felt depressed.

Just over 13 percent of boys who were often the target of direct bullying and almost 18 percent of those who were often the target of indirect bullying said they thought of suicide.

The researchers also looked at the psychology of the bullies. Just over 10 percent of boys who bullied -- whether it was direct or indirect bullying -- said they thought about suicide. This is compared to approximately 3 percent of boys who didn't bully their classmates.

For the new study, van der Wal and his colleagues surveyed 4, 811 school children who were aged 9 to 13.

SOURCE: Pediatrics 2003;111:1312-1317.

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