Bullying from brothers and sisters may be harmful

By Reuters Staff

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bullying has been linked to worse health later in life, and new findings from the UK suggest that's also true when kids are bullied by their siblings.

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 a paper online September 8 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 and March 10, 2014.)

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' recall.

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% said they were never bullied by their siblings. About 17% said their siblings had bullied them only once or twice. About 9% said it happened a few times a month, and another 10% said it occurred about once a week. About 11% 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.

"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% of depression and about 19% 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.

SOURCES: http://bit.ly/ZeYHB6 and http://bit.ly/ZeYFcy

Pediatrics 2014.

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