Cyber bullying linked to depression, nightmares in children – Report

Cyber bullying is one of the most dangerous things that can confront a child on the Internet, because it can have a negative impact on their psyche and cause problems for the rest of their lives.

This is according to a recent Kaspersky Lab study: Growing Up Online – Connected Kids, which notes cyber bullying is a far more dangerous threat to children than many parents think. The consequences for the majority of young victims of online harassment include serious problems with health and socialisation, it adds.

The research surveyed 3 780 families with children aged eight to 16 (one parent and one child per family) online in seven countries.

According to the study, children aged eight to16 are more wary of a cyber-bullying threat than their parents are. It notes 13% of children and 21% of parents consider it harmless.

At the same time, 16% of the children surveyed are more afraid of being bullied online than offline, while half (50%) are equally afraid of both real-life and virtual bullying.

Kaspersky Lab says parents should not downplay the dangers of cyber bullying. Despite the fact that the study found only 4% of children admitted to being bullied online (compared to 12% in real life), in seven out of 10 cases the consequences were traumatic.

The parents of 72% of the bullied confirmed that the experience had been terrible, resulting in distress (41%), low self-esteem (37%) and poor performance at school (30%), among other things.

Parents of 37% of the victims reported lower self-esteem, 30% saw a deterioration in their performance at school, and 28% cited depression.

In addition, 25% of parents stated that cyber bullying had disrupted their child’s sleep patterns and caused nightmares (21%). Another 26% of parents noticed that their child had started avoiding contact with other children, and 20% discovered their child had anorexia.

According to researchers in the journal JAMA Paediatrics’, there is a consistent relationship across studies between cyber bullying and depression among children and adolescents.

It says, however, that the evidence of the effect of cyber bullying on other mental health conditions is inconsistent.

Andrei Mochola, head of consumer business at Kaspersky Lab, says: “In an effort to protect our children from danger, we mustn’t forget that they not only live in the real world but also in the virtual world, which is just as real to them.

“On the Internet, children socialise, learn new things, have fun and, unfortunately, encounter unpleasant situations.”

Mochola advises the best solution is for parents to talk to their children and to use parental control software that can alert them to any suspicious changes to their social network page.