Oxford University study finds that a third of teenagers are bullied regularly

The Times reports on a study by Oxford University into bullying, which suggests more needs to be done to tackle ‘traditional’ forms of bullying that take place in the playground and continue to affect children and young people. Researchers found that fewer than 1% of children suffer social media victimisation on its own, and that it’s more likely a child will experience cyber-bullying if they are already being bullied face-to-face.

The research found that 36% of girls and 24% of boys reported they had been bullied at least two or three times a month, but that girls were more likely to experience all forms of bullying other than physical attacks. Teenagers who were bullied either in person or online were both twice as likely to score lower on measures of mental wellbeing. 

Andrew Przybylski, who led the research, said that numbers are “way, way too high”, and suggested that stories about online bullying should not distract from efforts to fight older playground forms of bullying. However, Claire Lilley, Head of Child Safety Online for the NSPCC, said calls about cyber bullying had risen 88% in five years, which suggests that it has a significant impact on children.

She added: “We know that cyberbullying can be particularly damaging because it doesn’t stop at the school gates”.

Commenting on the study, Helen Stokes-Lampard of the Royal College of GPs said: “What is most alarming about these results is not the different forms that bullying takes, but the huge amounts of bullying that go on.”

The full story is available on The Times website to subscribers. 

The RCPCH is running a course on ‘How to Manage Child Mental Health in General Paediatrics’ this September, with a range of interactive workshops, as well as a Hot Topics event in November ‘Making Sense of the System – the future of CYP mental health’. Please follow the links for further details.