A recent study by Australian study found evidence that habitual
bullies are more likely than other children their age to experience
high levels of depression and suicidal thoughts, according to media
reported on Sunday.
For some kids, school can be a place of fear and loathing. In
Australia, one in every six primary schoolchildren is bullied - a
term that can mean anything from exclusion and teasing to physical
violence.
Leading a range of anti-bullying programs over the past 10
years, professor Ken Rigby, a psychologist, social researcher and
an authority on bullying, has been involved in assessing more than
70 such programs around the world. He found that for the victims,
the first obvious response to bullying is absenteeism.
A large Australian study showed the more serious the bullying,
the greater the incidence of absenteeism. They are more likely to
have higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression and illness and
an increased tendency to suicide, while bullies are more likely to
drop out of school, abuse drugs or alcohol and develop delinquent
or criminal behaviour.
Rigby stresses that the definition of bullying needs some
refining in order to generate accurate figures. It may be the case
that these levels have always existed, but the light of public
scrutiny has made them appear to have increased.
He has concluded that the success of any approach relies on its
implementation and prevention is the only cure for these
children.
(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2007)