According to the Anti-Bullying Alliance, bullying is defined as “the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power”. This can manifest in many different forms, such as physical, verbal, relational, and/or property attacks.
With the increase use of technology, cyberbullying or online bullying is becoming an increasing problem. Data published by the Office for National Statistics states that one in five children aged 10 to 15 years old in England and Wales experienced some form of online bullying in the year ending March 2020. This is estimated to be equivalent to 764,000 children. Whether conducted online or in-person, bullying or peer victimisation can lead to depression and anxiety symptoms and have been associated with poor mental health outcomes (Ke, et al., 2022).
Furthermore, in relation to the impact on mental health, school-based bullying is recognised as a major public health issue (Guzman-Holst, et al., 2022). The distress and suffering caused by bullying can be immense and can provoke long-lasting changes in the physiological stress-systems in children and adolescents. (Jantzer, et al., 2021).
In light of the impact of bullying on mental health, Anti-Bullying Week is an annual UK event, coordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance (in England and Wales) and the Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (in Northern Ireland), which aims to raise awareness of bullying in children and young people. Having started in 2002, this event highlights ways of preventing and responding to bullying to make a difference and to create safer environments for children.
This year, we encourage you to explore the learning opportunities available on our website and to share with your networks and colleagues.
Resources
NEW Topic Guide
Podcasts
- NEW Podcast with Dr. Sînziana Oncioiu, Professor Lucy Bowes and Carolina Guzman Holst ‘Bullying and Mental Health: Impact and Interventions’
- Podcast with Jessica Armitage ‘Positive Wellbeing and Resilience following Adolescent Victimisation’
Lectures, talks, and discussions
- Recorded webinar ‘Bullying and Loneliness ‘Pedagogy in practice’’
- Recorded webinar ‘How are parenting practices associated with bullying in adolescents? – CAMHS around the Campfire recording’
- Recorded lecture ‘‘Social Media Use and Cyberbullying: an international analysis’ – Professor William Pickett‘
Open Access papers from ACAMH journals
- JCPP Research Review ‘Do antibullying interventions reduce internalizing symptoms? A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression exploring intervention components, moderators, and mechanisms’ (2022). Guzman-Holst, C., Zaneva, M., Chessell, C., Creswell, C., and Bowes, L.,
- JCPP Original Article ‘Under the skin: does psychiatric outcome of bullying victimization in school persist over time? A prospective intervention study’ (2021). Jantzer, V., Ossa, F. C., Eppelmann, L., Parzer, P., Resch, F., and Kaess, M.,
- JCPP Original Article ‘Understanding the relationships between trauma type and individual posttraumatic stress symptoms: a cross-sectional study of a clinical sample of children and adolescents’ (2022). Skogbrott Birkeland, M., Solheim Skar, A-M., and Jensen, T. K.,
- JCPP Original Article ‘Connecting the dots: social networks in the classroom and white matter connections in the brain’ (2022). Mulder, R. H., López-Vicente, M., Cortes Hidalgo, A. P., Steenkamp, L. R., Güroğlu, B., Tiemeier, H., and Muetzel, R. L.,
- JCPP Original Article ‘Suicidal ideation during adolescence: The roles of aggregate genetic liability for suicide attempts and negative life events in the past year’ (2022). Lannoy, S., Mars, B., Heron, J., and Edwards, A. C.,
- JCPP Advances Original Article ‘Positive wellbeing and resilience following adolescent victimisation: An exploration into protective factors across development’ (2021). Armitage, J. M., Wang, R. A., Davis, O. S. P., Collard, P., and Haworth, C. M. A.,
- JCPP Advances Original Article ‘A multi-informant and multi-polygenic approach to understanding predictors of peer victimisation in childhood and adolescence’ (2022). Armitage, J.M., Morneau-Vaillancourt, G., Pingault, J-B., Andlauer, T. F. M., Paquin, S., Langevin, S., Brendgen, M., Dionne, G., Séguin, J., Rouleau, G., Vitaro, F., Ouellet-Morin, I., and Boivin, M.,
- JCPP Advances Research Review ‘A systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the impact of childhood adversities on the mental health of LGBT+ youth’ (2022). Jonas, L., Salazar de Pablo, G., Shum, M., Nosarti, C., Abbott, C., and Vaquerizo-Serrano, J.,
- JCPP Advances Research Review ‘The association between peer-victimisation and structural and functional brain outcomes: A systematic review’ (2022). Ke, T., De Simoni, S., Barker, E., and Smith, P.,
- CAMH Original Article ‘How are parenting practices associated with bullying in adolescents? A cross-sectional study’ (2021). Pascual-Sanchez, A., Mateu, A., Martinez-Herves, M., Hickey, N., Kramer, T., and Nicholls, D.,
- CAMH Original Article ‘Life problems in children and adolescents who self-harm: findings from the multicentre study of self-harm in England’ (2022). Townsend, E., Ness, J., Waters, K., Rehman, M., Kapur, N., Clements, C., Geulayov, G., Bale, E., Casey, D., and Hawton, K.,
- CAMH Review Article ‘Universal mental health interventions for young students in adverse environments – a systematic review of evaluated interventions’ (2021). Higgen, S., Mueller, J. T., and Mösko, M.,