Bullying Damages Physical, Mental Health of Victims

Bullied children develop several physical and mental health problems, according to a new study.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Boston Children's Division of General and was based on data from 4,297 children and teenagers. Researchers collected information on participants' physical and mental health and their experience with bullying.

The team found that children exposed to bullying at any age had physical and mental problems. Participants who were bullied for a long time experienced difficulties in walking, running or playing sports.

The study shows the importance of early intervention, researchers said.

"Our research shows that long-term bullying has a severe impact on a child's overall health, and that its negative effects can accumulate and get worse with time," said the study's first author Laura Bogart, PhD, from Boston Children's Division of General Pediatrics.

"It reinforces the notion that more bullying intervention is needed, because the sooner we stop a child from being bullied, the less likely bullying is to have a lasting, damaging effect on his or her health down the road," Bogart added in a news release.

The study is published in the journal Pediatrics.

About 30 percent of students had been bullied on school property in 2011, according to Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC).

Previous research has shown that common aches and pains in children could be a sign that they are being bullied. Also, bullying alters victims' genes, making it harder for them to cope with stress. University of Warwick researchers had found that bullying impairs victim's ability to maintain healthy relationships in adulthood.

"There's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to addressing bullying," Bogart said in a news release. "But providing teachers, parents and clinicians with best-practices that are evidence-based could better assist those at the frontlines helping children cope with this serious problem and lessen the damage it causes."