Adolescents who have had school harassment suffer the consequences of such violence, psychological or physical, long after having experienced it. These are the results presented by the researchers from the universities of Lancaster (United Kingdom), Wollongong and Sydney (Australia) at the annual conference of the Royal Economic Society, which was held from April 15 to 17 in Coventry (United Kingdom).
“It was predictable that there would be consequences, but the percentages surprise me”said Éric Morissette, an expert on the phenomenon at the Faculty of Education at the University of Montreal (Canada) who did not participate in the study. Interrogates by the Quebec daily Press, which relays the results, the professor says about the mental risk: “It’s not nothing, it’s major”.
A frequent phenomenon
Indeed, the fact of having suffered from bullying at school increases the risk of being victim of mental illness by the age of 25 by 40%, research shows. To achieve these results, nearly 7,000 young British people aged 14 to 16 at the start of the study were interviewed regularly, until they were 21 and then 25.
The survey shows first of all that school bullying is common, since nearly half of the respondents confided to having been victims of it. They thus reported having been insulted, socially excluded, racketed, threatened with violence and even assaulted. Being bullied reduced their likelihood of getting good results by 10%. Still later, this increased the probability of being unemployed at 25 by about 35%. This could be explained by feelings of self-efficacy and reduced self-esteem as a result of the harassment.
Reduce forms of bullying at school
Scientists have also shown that while all types of bullying have negative consequences, the persistent or violent harassment has even greater impacts. “A targeted approach to reduce more extreme forms of bullying may be warranted”, they conclude.
“It confirms the importance of a school climate and a positive and caring school, complete Éric Morissette. School, and particularly high school, can be a protective factor to prevent the deterioration of situations related to mental health. “
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