Sibling Bullying Makes Psychiatric Disorders Three Times More Likely

Summary: Researchers have discovered a link between sibling bullying and an increased risk of developing a psychiatric disorder during early adulthood. The study reports those who are bullied by siblings are three times more likely to be diagnosed with disorders, such as schizophrenia, by the time they reach adulthood. Those who are bullied at home and at school are four times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders, researchers note.

Source: Cambridge University Press.

The researchers at the University of Warwick have observed that people who were bullied by their siblings during childhood are up to three times more at risk to develop psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia in early adulthood.

This study is the first of it’s kind to discover the relationship between sibling bullying and the development of psychotic disorders at young age.

The researchers assessed almost 3,600 children by making them fill a detailed questionnaire on sibling bullying at twelve years of age, and thereafter they went through a systematized clinical examination. The researchers studied the psychotic symptoms when they were eighteen years old.

The study revealed that Fifty-five of the total 3600 children showed signs of psychotic disorder by the age of eighteen. They also observed that the more often the children getting involved in sibling bullying – either as a bully, victim, or both, more is the possibility that they are to develop a psychotic disorder.

Those associated with sibling bullying (as bully or victim) on a repeated basis are 2-3 times more likely to come up with a psychotic disorder than other kids.

Children who are abused both at home and by school students are even worse off – having four times more possibility to develop psychotic disorders than those not involved in bullying at all.

The findings from the study suggests that parents and health professionals should be made aware of the prolonged mental health consequences that sibling bullying may have – and that interferences must be carried out in order to reduce and even prevent this form of aggressive behaviour within families.