Bullying and other forms of peer victimization can cause trauma symptoms in elementary school children, according to new research from the University of Florida.
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, found that more than 40% of children who experienced peer victimization showed clinically significant trauma symptoms, suggesting these experiences can have profound psychological effects.
"Bullying is often viewed as a normal part of growing up, but our findings suggest that for many children these experiences can be genuinely harmful," said John L. Cooley, Ph.D., the study's lead author and assistant professor in UF's College of Education .
The research followed 250 students in grades three through five at two elementary schools, examining their experiences with peer victimization and tracking trauma-related symptoms over the school year.
Peer victimization includes a range of experiences, such as being teased, excluded from groups, threatened, having rumors spread or being targeted online. Bullying is more severe and involves a power imbalance between the aggressor and victim.
"When people think about peer victimization and bullying, they often picture physical aggression like hitting or pushing," Cooley said. "But these experiences can also involve teasing, exclusion, gossip, property destruction or cyber victimization."
Researchers found that about 9 in 10 students experienced at least one instance of peer victimization during the early part of the school year. Children who experienced these events reported trauma symptoms across several areas, including avoidance, intrusive thoughts, negative emotions, heightened physical responses and changes in how they view themselves or others.
"Children may try to avoid thinking about what happened or withdraw from others," Cooley said. "At the same time, they may have unwanted thoughts about those experiences, trouble sleeping or feel constantly on alert."
The effects were not short-lived. The study found that the impact of peer victimization persisted more than six months later, suggesting these experiences can have lasting consequences for children's mental health. The same pattern emerged for all forms of peer victimization.
Researchers were also surprised by how early children were targeted online. About one in four children in the study reported experiencing cyber victimization. "Often the aggression begins at school and then continues online when children go home," Cooley said.
The study also found that many incidents go unnoticed by adults. While students reported high rates of victimization, teachers identified far fewer cases.
"There is often a lot happening that adults simply aren't aware of," Cooley said. "Some incidents occur outside of adult supervision, and others involve behaviors like exclusion or gossip that can be harder to detect."
Because of this, researchers say it is important for parents and educators to ask children directly about their peer experiences.
"It's critical that we talk with children about what they're experiencing and take those reports seriously," Cooley said.
