Publications - Bullying

Kids’ Declining Mental Health Is the ‘Crisis of Our Time,’ Surgeon General Says, by Caitlynn Peetz , EducationWeek, Apr 25 2023.

“In a conversation with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders livestreamed on Twitter, Murthy called the increase in youth mental health needs “the defining public health crisis of our time,” and underscored that kids’ mental health has taken a hit as they turn to social media more often and at younger ages. The increased use has led to more feelings of isolation, stress, and inadequacy as they constantly compare themselves to others, he said. It also keeps kids awake well into the night when they should be getting much-needed rest and makes it harder for young people to focus.  The most recent results of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed an alarming increase of self-reported mental health challenges, most notably among girls and children who identify as LGBTQ+. The survey was conducted in 2021, when many schools were still in remote or hybrid learning, but illustrates how sharply children’s mental health needs have increased in recent years. In 2021, for example, 42 percent of high school students said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year, according to the report. This was a 13.5 percent increase from 2019 and a 50 percent increase from 2011. Nearly one in five high school students had seriously considered attempting suicide during the previous year, while 18 percent made a suicide plan, and 10 percent attempted suicide. The CDC’s report does not explore what is driving the increased challenges. The rates were higher among girls and students who identify as LGBTQ+. ”

Long waiting lists, long drives and costly care hinder many kids’ access to mental health care, by Brenda Goodman, CNN, Oct 6 2022.

“Norris is one of more than 2,000 adults surveyed this summer by CNN and the Kaiser Family Foundation about mental health issues in America. The nationally representative sample included more than 500 parents.  Nearly half of those parents, 47%, say the pandemic has negatively affected their kids’ mental health, with 17% saying it had a major negative impact.  More than 8 out of 10 parents said they’re at least somewhat worried about depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug use negatively affecting the life of US teens, while roughly three-quarters said they were worried about self-harm or pandemic-related loneliness and isolation.  More than 4 in 10 said they were very worried about alcohol and drug use, anxiety and depression affecting teens. Lower-income parents – those making less than $40,000 a year – were more likely than those in higher-income households to say they’re very worried about self-harm, eating disorders, depression and alcohol and drug use.  According to the survey, more than half of Americans (55%) think most children and teenagers in the US aren’t able to get the mental health services they need. ”

Transgender youth at a higher risk for suicidal thoughts, report says, by Chiara Greco, The Globe and Mail, Jun 6 2022.

“Transgender adolescents are nearly five times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than their non-transgender and heterosexual peers, according to a new study.  The research, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, used data from Statistics Canada’s 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth to assess the risk of suicide among transgender and sexual-minority youth in Canada. The data included responses from more than 6,800 adolescents aged 15 to 17. Of those respondents, 1,130 indicated some degree of same-gender attraction, 265 were unsure of their attraction and 50 reported transgender identities. The study found that nearly 50 per cent of transgender respondents said they had seriously thought about suicide in the past 12 months, compared to 10.4 per cent of cisgender heterosexual respondents. (Someone is cisgender when their gender identity corresponds with whatever sex they were assigned at birth.) Nearly 6.8 per cent of adolescents included in the study had attempted suicide in their lifetime. ”

How to Detect Your Child’s Emotional Distress Before the School’s AI Does, by Julie Jargon, The Wall Street Journal, Sep 18 2021.

“School districts use artificial-intelligence software that can scan student communications and web searches on school-issued devices—and even devices that are logged in via school networks—for signs of suicidal ideation, violence against fellow students, bullying and more. Included in the scans are emails and chats between friends, as well as student musings composed in Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Many school districts have used monitoring software over the past three years to prevent school shootings, but it has evolved to become a tool to spot a range of mental-health issues, including anxiety, depression and eating disorders. School administrators say such surveillance is more important than ever as students return to the classroom after 18 months of pandemic-related stress, uncertainty and loss. Critics say it raises questions about privacy, misuse and students’ ability to express feelings freely or search for answers. ”

As concern about kids' mental health and social media use grows, authorities take action, by Jack Guy, CNN, Feb 5 2019.

“Concern over children's use of social media and its effect on their mental health has increased markedly in recent years, and now official action on the issue is also stepping up. In the UK, government ministers are considering imposing new rules on social media companies, while a trial introducing mindfulness exercises will be extended to up to 370 English schools. The response comes as separate surveys have revealed feelings of "overwhelming pressure" and inadequacy among young social media users, as well as the prevalence of online bullying. ”

Even with insurance, getting mental health treatment is a struggle in Mass., study says, by Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, Dec 11 2018.

“Massachusetts residents who need health care are colliding with a hard reality: Having medical insurance doesn’t guarantee you can get treatment, particularly for psychiatric problems. More than half of adults who sought mental health or addiction treatment in recent months had difficulty getting that care, according to a survey of 2,201 residents by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in Boston...The obstacle wasn’t a lack of insurance; the vast majority of patients were insured. Rather, the problem was that providers either did not accept their insurance or their practices were closed to new patients. ”

States may now broaden mental health treatment under Medicaid, by Michael Nedelman, CNN, Nov 13 2018.

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may now allow for states to pursue Medicaid reimbursements for short-term inpatient treatment in mental health facilities despite a decades-old exclusion, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Tuesday. In a letter to state Medicaid directors, CMS detailed a new Medicaid waiver opportunity through which states may bypass longstanding reimbursement restrictions on inpatient psychiatric treatment, which apply to mental health facilities with more than 16 beds. Azar said the original policy has posed a "significant barrier" to people getting the treatments they need. ”

Early puberty in girls tied to bullying in school, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, May 17 2018.

“Girls who go through puberty early may be more likely than peers who mature later to be involved in bullying at school - either as victims or perpetrators, a recent study suggests...Early menstruation was associated with 21 percent higher odds that girls would be occasional victims of bullying and a 35 percent greater chance of frequent victimization. At the same time, teens who started menstruating sooner than most other girls were 19 percent more likely to occasionally bully other students at school and had 46 percent higher odds of becoming frequent bullies...'Parents should let their daughters know that puberty timing is varied among adolescents, it is very normal that some are earlier and some are later,' Lian said by email. 'More importantly, parents and school teachers should recognize that adolescents need the skills and abilities to copy with the pressures caused by early puberty they enter puberty.' ”

Childhood bullying linked to suicide risk for teens, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Jan 16 2018.

“Adolescents who experienced severe bullying by their peers earlier in childhood may be more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts than teens who weren’t routinely victimized by other kids, a Canadian study suggests...Compared to teens who experienced little or no bullying as kids, adolescents who suffered chronic tormenting by their peers were more than twice as likely to be depressed and more than three times more likely to be anxious or seriously consider suicide, the study found...Adolescents who were chronically bullied as kids were also much more likely to experience social anxiety, eating problems, conduct issues and behavior challenges, the study found. ”

For some kids, bullying may not leave lasting mental scars, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Oct 11 2017.

“Children who are bullied during their pre-teen years may experience mental health issues like anxiety and depression, but a study of twins suggests that some victims may not experience lasting psychological problems. .. At age 11, kids who reported bullying were more likely than children who weren’t victims of peer victimization to report anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, inattention and conduct problems, the study found. Some effects appeared to diminish over time, however. After five years, there no longer appeared to be a link between bullying and anxiety, but an association persisted for issues like cognitive disorganization and paranoid thoughts.  'Most children will get better,' said Judy Silberg, author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.     ”

The children most likely to be bullied by their own friends, by Jacqueline Howard, CNN, Jul 7 2017.

“'I definitely got bullied by people who I cared about and I definitely had people I thought were my friends that weren't,' said Averill, now 39, as she reflected on her middle school friendships. She added that her weight was often the target of the teasing...Two separate studies published in June support Averill's idea that overweight or obese children are more likely to have "frenemies" than non-overweight children...The researchers found that overweight children not only were less likely overall to be nominated than their non-overweight classmates, they were 1.65 times more likely to be disliked...'This negative social environment is important to address because it can have a negative impact on overweight children's mental health and because it is a barrier to overweight kids adopting healthy habits,' she said, adding that stigmatizing obesity does not motivate children to lose weight. 'Overweight kids who experience peer rejection and social isolation are likely to exercise less, have greater food intake and have fewer positive role models for healthy habits and a healthy weight.' ”

Teen Bullies And Their Victims Both Face A Higher Risk Of Suicide, by Alison Kodjak, NPR, Jun 28 2016.

“Bullying and cyberbullying are major risk factors for teen suicide. And both the bullies and their victims are at risk. That's according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that urges pediatricians and family doctors to routinely screen teenagers for suicide risks. ”

Bullied kids are more likely to be depressed years later, by Kathryn Doyle, Reuters , Jun 12 2015.

“Being bullied in adolescence may make kids more vulnerable to depression in early adulthood and explain almost a third of depression burden at that age, according to a new study in the U.K. Among nearly 4,000 children in southwest England followed from birth, kids who were frequently bullied at age 13 were more than twice as likely to be depressed at age 18 as those who were not bullied – even after accounting for other factors that could contribute to depression risk. ”

Bullying by students with disabilities reduced by social-emotional learning, by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ScienceDaily , Mar 31 2015.

“Peer victimization -- bullying -- declined 20 percent among students with disabilities who participated in Second Step social-emotional learning curricula, authors of a new study report. More than 120 students with disabilities at two school districts in the Midwest United States participated in the research, which was part of a larger three-year clinical trial of the widely used social-emotional learning curricula Second Step. ”

One In Five Workers Has Left Their Job Because Of Bullying, by Kathryn Dill, Forbes , Sep 18 2014.

“Nearly one third of workers report having felt bullied at work, according to a study released today by CareerBuilder. Even worse? Roughly 20% ended up leaving their job because of it. The study is based on data from a nationwide survey conducted by Harris Poll of nearly 3,400 full-time, private sector employees throughout various industries and company sizes. ”