Over a third of women bullied at school said it affected their mental health, report shows

The Impact of Bullying Report produced by distance learning provider, Oxford Open Learning Trust has revealed that 75 per cent of women who were bullied at school, said it affected their self-confidence.

This is compared with 63 per cent of men.

The new research considers the long-term effects of bullying on UK adults, discovering who they were bullied by and how often, based on
a survey of 2,104 adults.

Of those polled by YouGov, 67 per cent of those who had experienced bullying at school, were bullied by other people in their year.

A third of women bullied (33 per cent) admitted to being bullied by their friends, compared to 26 per cent of men, whereas men were most likely to have been bullied by older children (45 per cent versus 29 per cent of women).

Bullying was more likely to affect women’s self-confidence than men’s (75 per cent versus 63 per cent).

Those who admitted to being bullied in the past, also stated it affected their ability to make friends (37 per cent versus 31 per cent) and their mental health (35 per cent versus 27 per cent).

Julia Jackson, a therapeutic counsellor said: “Childhood bullying can often be dismissed as 'kids just being kids' but it's vital to support
children and young people who are being bullied as the effects can be far-reaching and long-lasting.

“Adults who were bullied as children can struggle with low self-esteem, have difficulty forming healthy friendships and relationships and be more at risk from suffering with depression and anxiety.”

The online research also looked into the issue of cyber bullying.

Over half (55 per cent) of 18-24 year olds surveyed said that they have seen other people bullied on social media, and of those polled it was men who have been ridiculed the most on social media platforms, in comparison to women (11 per cent versus eight per cent).

Dr Nick Smith, courses director and founder of Oxford Open Learning Trust, said: “The long-lasting impact of bullying can be severe.

“We commissioned the research to learn about the landscape of bullying and how this has impacted on day-to-day life for adults. Not surprisingly, the long-term effects of bullying can be physical and mental, but also have an impact on education too.”