Sibling Bullying Associated with Poor Mental Health Outcomes Years Later

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on MedicalXpress.

Young people who are repeatedly bullied by siblings are more likely to suffer from poor mental health and wellbeing issues later in adolescence, a new study has suggested.

The new research, which analyzed data from over 17,000 participants, found that as the frequency of bullying increased in early-to-middle adolescence, so did the severity of mental health outcomes in their late teens.

The paper also found that sibling bullying in early adolescence, irrespective of whether the individual was a victim, perpetrator, or both, has a long-term effect on both positive and negative mental health in late adolescence.

Lead author, Dr. Umar Toseeb from the University of York's Department of Education, said: "Whilst sibling bullying has previously been linked to poor mental health outcomes, it was not known whether there is a relationship between the persistence of sibling bullying and the severity of mental health outcome, in the longer term."

"In the first study of its kind, we comprehensively investigated a whole range of mental health outcomes, which included measures of both positive (eg wellbeing and self-esteem) and negative (eg symptoms of psychological distress) mental health.

"Of particular note was the finding that even those who bullied their siblings, but weren't bullied themselves (ie the bullies) had poorer mental health outcomes years later," Dr. Toseeb added.

"Sibling Bullying: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Associations with Positive and Negative Mental Health during Adolescence" was published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-sibling-bullying-poor-mental-health.html