Thousands of children around the world suffer bullyingHowever, there are still many adults who use the argument (very poor, by the way) that "they are things of children", when they know of the intimidations that occur between students of the last Primary courses. Of course, the problem continues to go to ESO, but by then, there are parents who still pay less attention to their own children.
In Peques and Más we had already talked about how bullying causes mental health damage, even when the person has already reached adulthood. Today we are going to present the results of a study recently published in the journal Pediatrics, about the impact of bullying during a long period of time.
Honestly, I would like to clarify before continuing that I am very surprised that we need these investigations to open our eyes, because it seems that what cannot be verified or measured does not exist; and yet despite our reluctance, in most of the schools where our children go (all the children of whom we write and read the blog) there are children who are harassed by their peers. According to a new investigation by Boston Children's Hospital (and published in the specialized journal mentioned above), The longer a person is exposed to situations that are harmful to their health, the worse the consequences. And it turns out that bullying (or whatever you want to call it) can be part of that list of experiences that have a greater number of victims who suffer negative and unexpected consequences, and are larger as the exposure of children perpetuates .
They have analyzed data from 4297 children who were surveyed at three key moments of their academic career (fifth grade, seventh grade and tenth grade), which would be equivalent to fifth grade of Primary, first and fourth ESO, although in the United States the seventh grade is part of the Secondary Education called Middle School, and the tenth of the High School.
Multivariable regressions have been used that prove longitudinal associations of bullying, and relate them to physical and mental health by comparing youth who have experienced bullying (in the past and in the present). The research has been carried out at the same time in three cities, and it is worth highlighting the established longitudinal relationships, because to date the studies are based solely on those that are transversal.
According to student responses, personal stories of bullying have been divided into four groups: those who had never suffered bullying, those who experienced it in the past, who were experiencing it today, and those who had experienced it in the past. past and present
One of the conclusions is that students intimidated in the past, and in the present, have worse health than others (and this shows significantly). For example, children who They have come to experience bullying chronically they are also more likely to have problems with physical activities such as walking, running or participating in sports.
Laura Bogart of Boston Children's Hospital is the first author of the investigation, says that long-term harassment has a serious impact on a person's overall health, and its negative effects can accumulate and get worse over time
It is known that children who are overweight, or have known health problems (we had pointed out for example autism spectrum disorders or allergies); in addition to those who when they reach adolescence express their sexual orientation and identify themselves as homosexuals; They turn out to be an easy target for bullies (or bullies).
As part of the study, the need to look for the cause of any behavioral change in children (which may or may not be associated with bullying) is noted, especially if they are shown retracted or have symptoms of depression. And of course look for explanations to the appearance of bruises, cuts or scratches, although bullying is not always so obvious. Anyway, I recommend rereading this post on how to know that they harass our son if he doesn't tell us.
Society, schools, and fathers and mothers are responsible for seeing what does not work and trying to change it, children cannot defend themselves against bullying, it is a very bad excuse, but as useless as interested, therefore, if we are really interested in combating this serious social problem, we must start right now.
The second main conclusion of the study suggests that early detection can reverse the worsening of victims' health.
