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 In a study of about 7,000 people, those bullied by brothers or
sisters were more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and
self-harm than those who weren’t bullied.
“There is a growing concern about bullying occurring at school, at
work, or by adult partners,” the researchers write in Pediatrics.
“In contrast, sibling bullying is neglected by researchers,
clinicians, and policymakers.”
Tools and techniques to address sibling bullying are needed, write
the researchers, led by Lucy Bowes from the University of Oxford.
Tools that already exist to improve sibling relationships should
also be tested for effectiveness, they add.
Studies had found that bullying may build up over a person’s
childhood and be tied to mental health problems, including suicidal
thoughts and attempts. (See Reuters Health stories of Feb. 17, 2014
here: http://reut.rs/ZeTI3q and March 10, 2014 here:
http://reut.rs/ZeTKIL.)
Earlier studies have focused on bullying by brothers and sisters,
but the researchers of the new study say the results of those
studies are limited by design because they relied on participants
trying to remember when and how much they were bullied.
For the new study, the researchers followed 6,928 children from the
UK. The children were asked if they were bullied by their siblings
at age 12 years and then evaluated for depression, anxiety and
self-harm at age 18.
About 53 percent said they were never bullied by their siblings.
About 17 percent said their siblings had bullied them only once or
twice. About 9 percent said it happened a few times a month, and
another 10 percent said it occurred about once a week. About 11
percent said it happened several times a week.
Overall, the researchers found that children who ever reported being
bullied by their siblings were about twice as likely to have
depression or anxiety, or to have harmed themselves, at age 18.
The results to be similar after the researchers adjusted for factors
that may influence the results, such as depression, anxiety and
self-harm being more common among families experiencing internal
conflicts.
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“To our knowledge, our study is the first longitudinal study to
investigate the prospective association between sibling bullying and
the emergence of clinical outcomes in early adulthood,” the
researchers write.
“Victims of sibling bullying are twice as likely to develop
depression by early adulthood and to report self-harming within the
previous year when compared with children not bullied by siblings,”
they add.
The study can't prove bullying by brothers and sisters leads to
depression or self-harm, however.
If that were the case, however, the researchers estimate that 13
percent of depression and about 19 percent of self-harm may be due
to sibling bullying.
Another piece of research from the UK - led by the University of
Warwick’s Dieter Wolke - published in the same issue of the journal
found that children who are bullied are more likely to have
nightmares and night terrors.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/ZeYHB6 and
http://bit.ly/ZeYFcy Pediatrics,
online September 8, 2014.
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