Bullying was once considered a childhood rite of passage. Today, however, bullying is recognized as a serious problem. Up to half of all children are bullied at some point during their school years, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. And thanks to tech-savvy kids, cyberbullying and other forms of electronic harassment are now commonplace.
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Mayo Clinic experts are available to comment on a variety of bullying angles and issues. Mayo Clinic bullying prevention experts Peter Jensen, M.D., and Bridget Biggs, Ph.D., can talk about cyberbullying, and physical and verbal bullying among adolescents.
Children who are bullied may be afraid to go to school, Drs. Jensen and Biggs say. They may complain of headaches or stomachaches and have trouble concentrating on schoolwork. In the long term, the consequences of bullying may be even more severe, they say.
"Children who are bullied have higher rates of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and other mental health conditions," Dr. Jensen says. "Children who are bullied are more likely to think about suicide. Some of these wounds may linger into adulthood."