School bullies prime candidates for crime and mental problems as an adults
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A history of bullying other children in the lower grades of school appears to correlate with mental health problems and crime as an adult - or so concludes an extensive child psychiatric study, following the lives of Finnish children born in 1981.
At the age of eight they were asked to fill out a form asking questions linked with bullying and symptoms of mental disorders. Parents and teachers were also asked about such danger signals.
The lives of the boys in the sampling were followed into their manhood. Boys were chosen because their mental health problems often begin earlier and continue in a more clear-cut fashion than is the case with girls.
The results of three reports are stunning: those who bullied other children at the age of eight on a daily basis were found to commit much more crimes in youth and adulthood. Mental health problems often deepened, to become full-blown personality disorders.
The results emphasise the importance of early intervention. "Bullying is like a warning signal or red flag", is how Andre Sourander of the University of Turku describes the study.
"It is not enough to intervene in the bullying. The situation of the child needs to be clarified in greater detail. Some repeat bullies and victims of bullying have serious mental health problems. There is a great danger that they will remain."
Alarming symptoms include continuous aggressiveness and an inability to control stimuli - basically, destructive behaviour that violates boundaries. These types of behaviours are often ignored, whereas many schools readily intervene in cases of actual bullying.
There is a danger of more serious mental health disorders: drug and alcohol dependence, and anti-social personality disorders", Sourander sums up. Typical of that is irresponsible and antisocial behaviour.
The danger is increased further by emotional difficulties that manifest themselves in depression and anguish, and a tendency to internalise problems.
These kinds of characteristics were identified in four per cent of boys. They were found to have committed 26 per cent of all crimes in Finland between 1998 and 2001. They were also at risk of coming down with the key psychiatric disorders of adulthood - that is, psychoses, mood disorders, addictions, and personality disorders.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 4.9.2007 - TODAY |
 School bullies prime candidates for crime and mental problems as an adults |
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