New research says bullying is so much more than physical

New research has found that children who are bullied are more likely to develop social and mental health problems in adulthood than children who are physically abused.

The research, led by Dieter Wolke of the University of Warwick in England, found that children who are bullied by other children are five times more likely to experience anxiety and are twice as likely to develop depression and have low self-esteem as they grow older.

Wolke says it’s time for bullying to be taken seriously.

“Until now, governments have focused their efforts and resources on family maltreatment rather than bullying,” he said. “Since one in three children worldwide report being bullied, and it is clear that bullied children have similar or worse mental health problems later in life to those who are maltreated, more needs to be done to address this imbalance. It is vital that schools, health services and other agencies work together to tackle bullying.”

The most common type of bullying is done verbally, as 77 percent of all surveyed students admitted they’ve heard some type of verbal abuse at school. However, in today’s world, bullying isn’t confined to the playground or the school lunchroom. Thanks to social media and other digital communication platforms, cyberbullying has become the kind of bullying that never sleeps.

Research from NoBullying.com found that more than 52 percent of adolescents have been cyberbullied, while 25 percent of them say they’ve experience such bullying repeatedly on their cellphone or computer.