Bullying forces students to carry weapons: Study

New York, April 27
High school students subjected to bullying are likely to report being seriously depressed, consider suicide and carrying weapons to school, says a new research.

"Teenagers can be the victim of face-to-face bullying in school, electronic bullying outside of the classroom and dating violence," said Andrew Adesman, senior investigator from North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

"Each of these experiences are associated with a range of serious adverse consequences," he added.

The study was based on data collected by the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) as part of its 2013 Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance System.

Adesman reported that depression and suicide are much more common in teenagers, who have been the victim of bullying in school and/or electronically.

Moreover, these risks were additive among teenagers, who were the victim of both forms of bullying.

"Although cyber bullying may not pose the same physical threat that face-to-face bullying does, it can be far more hurtful since it can spread like wildfire throughout a student body and take on a life of its own," Adesman noted.

"Students need to feel safe both in and outside of school. More needs to be done to reduce bullying and the huge toll it takes on youth," noted Tammy Pham, principal investigator of the study.

Another study found that teenagers, who were victimised in more than one way were especially likely to carry a weapon to school or skip school altogether.

Boys were overall more likely to carry a weapon to school than girls regardless of victim status.

Girls who were the victims of bullying were more than three times as likely to carry a weapon as girls who were not victimised.

"The prevalence of school bullying has serious implications for the safety of all students -- both the victims of bullying and the non-victims," Pham concluded.

The findings were shared at the Paediatric Academic Societies meeting in San Diego on Monday.