As many as 20 percent of U.S. high school students admit to being bullied, and it makes sense that this could lead to depression or other mental health problems. But what about the kids doing the bullying?
A link might be possible there as well.
A study presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) national conference in October found that children diagnosed with mental health disorders were three times more likely to be identified as bullies than those without.
The mental health status of children who bully others hasn’t been much investigated, but when researchers looked at data on 64,000 children included in the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health, they found that just over 15 percent of children were identified as bullies by a parent or guardian. Looking closer, they found that children diagnosed with depression were three times more likely to bully, while those diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder were six times more likely.
The study wasn’t able to determine whether the children’s mental health problems caused the bullying or vice-versa, but researchers note that a better understanding of the relationship between mental health and bullying – and the risk profile of childhood bullies – could lead to more effective anti-bullying programs.
“These findings highlight the importance of providing psychological support not only to victims of bullying, but to bullies as well,” says study author Frances G. Turcotte-Benedict, M.D., of Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI.
Experts have long understood that a mother’s depression takes its toll on the health and wellbeing of her children. After a team from the NYU School of Medicine late last year found that a father’s depressive symptoms also are linked with increased mental health problems in kids, researchers decided to try to pinpoint factors that boost dads’ depression risk.
There is a well-established connection between depression in mothers and emotional and behavior problems in kids. The connection between a father’s mental health and his children’s well-being has received less attention.
Valentine’s can be an emotional day. And while our emotions can deliver delight, they can also do us dirt. James Blumenthal, Ph.D., Duke University psychology professor, says that people riding the emotional roller coaster (calm to irritated to angry) are risking their heart’s health. Here are tips for smoothing things out from his book Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
4. Create an emotion vs. reason list. For any sticky issues, list what your emotions are telling you to do on one side of a sheet of paper, and what reason is saying on the other. Let your lists help you decide how to handle things.
There are lots of myths and misconceptions about children and mental illness. Here are a few:
