Bullying involvement in primary school and common health problems

Aims-To examine the association of direct (e.g. hitting) and relational (e. g. hurtful manipulation of peer relationships) bullying experience with com mon health problems. Methods-A total of 1639 children (aged 6-9 years) in 31 primary schools wer e studied in a cross sectional study that assessed bullying with a structur ed child interview and common health problems using parent reports. Main ou tcome measures were common physical (e.g. colds/coughs) and psychosomatic ( e.g. night waking) health problems and school absenteeism. Results-Of the children studied, 4.3% were found to be direct bullies, 10.2 % bully/victims (i.e. both bully and become victims), and 39.8% victims. Di rect bully/victims, victims, and girls were most likely to have physical he alth symptoms (e.g. repeated sore throats, colds, and coughs). Direct bully /victims, direct victims, and year 2 children were most likely to have high psychosomatic health problems (e.g. poor appetite, worries about going to school). Pure bullies (who never got victimised) had the least physical or psychosomatic health problems. No association between relational bullying a nd health problems was found. Conclusions-Direct bullying (e.g. hitting) has only low to moderate associa tions with common health problems in primary school children. Nevertheless, health professionals seeing children with repeated sore throat, colds, bre athing problems, nausea, poor appetite, or school worries should consider b ullying as contributory factor.