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Playground bullies may be a thing of the past, as more teens are hiding behind a computer screen or a cell phone to torment their victims.
Whether it's via text message, e-mail or social networking site cyberbullying has the ability to follow teens home, making it virtually unable to escape the taunting.
A U.S. survey found that in adolescents between the ages of 10 and 17, 12 percent reported being an online bully and 4 percent reported being the targets of aggression online.
AOL Health's Mental Health expert Dr. Daniel Carlat said that cyberbullying comes with factors that separate it from traditional bullying symtoms.
"Face to face bullying is easier to resolve because the perpetrator is identifiable, and can therefore easily be reported," he told AOL Health . Cyberbullying is anonymous, and can certainly be more psychologically damaging because the internet allows false, vicious rumors to be propagated throughout large networks of friends."
Another study from Finland appearing in the JAMA/Archives journal Archives of General Psychiatry, found that not only did cyberbullying affect teens emotionally, but it also left them with physical symptoms.
Dr. Andre Sourander, of Turku University in Finland, collected data from 2,215 participants ages 13 to 16 who completed a survey about cyberbullying, and answered other questions about their health, demographics and lifestyles.
The teens reported that in a period of six months before the study, 4.8 percent of them had been the victim of cyberbullying, 7.4 percent were cyberbullies and 5.4 percent were both the victim and the aggressor.
"Bullying is a form of aggression and when people are assaulted it is a normal human response to defend oneself, so it does not surprise me that victims and perpetrators are often the same people," Carlat told AOL Health.
Results showed that the victims had behavioral problems with emotions, concentration, and getting along with other people, but they also reported having headaches, stomach pain, and problems sleeping and felt they were unsafe at school.
In comparison, the bullies reported the same emotional symptoms, but were also associated with hyperactivity, misconduct and lifestyle factors such as smoking and drinking.
And the bullies also said they felt unsafe at school.
"The feeling of being unsafe is probably worse in cyberbullying compared with traditional bullying," the authors said in a statement. "Traditional bullying typically occurs on school grounds, so victims are safe at least within their homes. With cyberbullying, victims are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
The researchers suggested that parents, teachers and the children themselves be aware of the harm cyberbullying can cause.
"Parents need to be on top of their children's use of the Internet," Carlat said. "There are various e-mail and web content managers that can be downloaded and I suggest that parents insist on them."
http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-center/depression/cyberbullying-linked-to-depression?
Don't think this is a surprise to anybody here.
Whether it's via text message, e-mail or social networking site cyberbullying has the ability to follow teens home, making it virtually unable to escape the taunting.
A U.S. survey found that in adolescents between the ages of 10 and 17, 12 percent reported being an online bully and 4 percent reported being the targets of aggression online.
AOL Health's Mental Health expert Dr. Daniel Carlat said that cyberbullying comes with factors that separate it from traditional bullying symtoms.
"Face to face bullying is easier to resolve because the perpetrator is identifiable, and can therefore easily be reported," he told AOL Health . Cyberbullying is anonymous, and can certainly be more psychologically damaging because the internet allows false, vicious rumors to be propagated throughout large networks of friends."
Another study from Finland appearing in the JAMA/Archives journal Archives of General Psychiatry, found that not only did cyberbullying affect teens emotionally, but it also left them with physical symptoms.
Dr. Andre Sourander, of Turku University in Finland, collected data from 2,215 participants ages 13 to 16 who completed a survey about cyberbullying, and answered other questions about their health, demographics and lifestyles.
The teens reported that in a period of six months before the study, 4.8 percent of them had been the victim of cyberbullying, 7.4 percent were cyberbullies and 5.4 percent were both the victim and the aggressor.
"Bullying is a form of aggression and when people are assaulted it is a normal human response to defend oneself, so it does not surprise me that victims and perpetrators are often the same people," Carlat told AOL Health.
Results showed that the victims had behavioral problems with emotions, concentration, and getting along with other people, but they also reported having headaches, stomach pain, and problems sleeping and felt they were unsafe at school.
In comparison, the bullies reported the same emotional symptoms, but were also associated with hyperactivity, misconduct and lifestyle factors such as smoking and drinking.
And the bullies also said they felt unsafe at school.
"The feeling of being unsafe is probably worse in cyberbullying compared with traditional bullying," the authors said in a statement. "Traditional bullying typically occurs on school grounds, so victims are safe at least within their homes. With cyberbullying, victims are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
The researchers suggested that parents, teachers and the children themselves be aware of the harm cyberbullying can cause.
"Parents need to be on top of their children's use of the Internet," Carlat said. "There are various e-mail and web content managers that can be downloaded and I suggest that parents insist on them."
http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-center/depression/cyberbullying-linked-to-depression?
Don't think this is a surprise to anybody here.
