Beware, "Bullying" Causes Suicide When Teens

Harassment or bullying, whether verbal or physical, continues to exist in schools until now. In Indonesia alone, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) reports that during 2011-2016, there were 2,435 reports of child abuse committed in schools.

A recent study from an international joint research team shows that children who are victims of abuse have a tendency to commit suicide when they are teenagers.

The findings are based on a 15-year observation of the development of 1,136 children born from 1997 to 1998 in a long-term study in Quebec, Canada.

They watched reports of abuse from children aged 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, and 13 years. The number of girls is slightly more than that of males, namely 53 percent. They also come from socioeconomic backgrounds, different family structures.

Researchers then categorize the subject of research into several groups, namely not victims of abuse, casualties, and severe victims.

In the observations of scientists published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Monday (15/1/2018), the desire to commit suicide during adolescence is one of them caused by mental health disorders that come from childhood experiences.

"Our findings show that about 15 percent of children are severely affected by violence from the start at school until the transition to high school," said Dr Marie-Claude Geoffroy of the McGill Group for suicide studies at McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, quoted by Science Daily, Monday (15/1/2018).

"These children have a greater risk of experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety to suicide when they are teenagers," he continued.

Studies conducted by Geoffroy and his research colleagues found that children who had experienced severe violence were twice as likely to have symptoms of depression when they were 15 years old.

They were also three times more likely to experience anxiety and were nearly 3.5 times more likely to report suicidal ideation than children in the category of never or rarely violent.

Then, about 59 percent of children experience violence when they are still in elementary school and the routine of violence against friends tends to decline as children get older.

"Even so, those who, when children become the hardest victims of violence, still fall victim to the highest levels of violence during early adolescence," the researchers wrote.

"This study proves that violence by peers can contribute to the development of mental health problems in adolescence, so it is important to prevent severe violence as children," they said in a paper.

Violence in children, tragically, not only happens in school by peers. Thousands of children also experience violence at home. This is indicated by punishments that are claimed to discipline children by their parents or caregivers.

As reported by Global Report 2017: Ending Violence in Childhood, child abuse at home has begun since children aged 0 to 14 years. This includes physical violence and emotional violence.

In KPAI's own data, there are 4,294 cases of child abuse committed by families and caregivers throughout 2011-2016.