Editor’s note: My sisters know I love them.
When speaking about the subject of bullying, most look for the perp on the playground as the culprit behind the negative actions. However, we rarely look within the homes, and a new study is suggesting that sibling bully is just a detrimental, and prevalent, as any classroom menace.
In an article published in the journal Pediatrics on June 17, the article found that sibling bullying is under-recognized, and its effects can cause victims mental ailments such as anger, depression, and anxiety.
The study also found that regardless of the severity of the aggression, the bullied children had significantly worse mental health than children who were not bullied.
Information for the study was obtained from The National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence through a series of phone interviews with about 3,600 participants ages 10 to 17-years-old. Researchers also interviewed adult caregivers of children ages 9 and under, and each adolescent had at least one sibling under 18 who still lived at home. The researchers asked the kids whether a sibling had bullied them within the past year, and out of all the participants, 32 percent said they experienced two or more types of sibling aggression.
And who would argue against it? It’s become a culture pathway or part of life that the younger children are bullied by their older siblings, only to one day become close friends and pseudo-buddies once both have moved out of the house and become preoccupied with their own adult responsibilities. And part of adulthood in American culture is somehow maintaining a poker face through life’s issues.
I am the youngest of three girls, and I have a myriad of stories of how both of my sisters tormented me in some way. Sometimes it was physical, other times the abuse was more emotional, but I remember each moment. And even today, when I recall these times, I still feel a bit uncomfortable, despite my laughable exterior about the subject.
But the issues still linger. Half of all my childhood insecurities stem from some form of my sisters’ behavior. At one time, one of my siblings called me and fat and the other remarked about how stupid I was for not understanding math and getting my first C on a science test. To a first grader, these insults were the end of the world, and for years I accepted them as truths. Perhaps if my siblings weren’t so harsh towards me as a kid, I would’ve given med school a shot and my relationship with carbs would be a lot less sad.
Personal musing aside, the real issue with childhood bullying doesn’t have to be so subjective at all. While everyone suffers from some type of kryptonite, there is a large amount of teens rotating out of mental health clinics each year. If parents are blatantly disregarding their children being bullied, then how is that relayed in our own apathetic regard to mental health? By ignoring the actions and the signs are bullying, we are cycling a message of normalcy, and further placing mental health on the back burner.
Mental health has already received a stigma of something undesirable that should be hidden. But the truth can not sty buried forever, and the we can not stand aside and wait for something else to be the result. Anti-bullying initiatives have been on the rise in recent years as more statistics reveal the tragic effects on victims, but the predominant media coverage spotlights the source as outside of the home, usually at with bully coming from the child’s school. But what our society is overlooking is the abuse from within the home. Sure, sibling rivalry is comical at times, but for every funny joke there is the penalty os a child undergoing serious mental issues.
Children are extremely impressionable. Our childhood builds the foundation of our personalities and our memories can either be the catalyst of our greatest conflicts or leads us to our largest triumphs in our lives. So while parents look on at their two brothers ruthlessly beating each other up over who gets to play with the new videogame first, we should pay attention to the possible underlying effects of such behavior.
Victoria Wright is a senior in journalism and electronic media and can be reached at [email protected].
